Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 29 Feb 1944

Vol. 92 No. 14

Committee on Finance. - Vote 76—Children's Allowances.

Minister for Industry and Commerce (Mr. Lemass)

I move:—

That a sum not exceeding £800 be granted to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending 31st March, 1944, for Salaries and Expenses in connection with Children's Allowances (No. 2 of 1944).

The main sum required for the children's allowances scheme will, of course, be voted in respect of the financial year 1944-45, but certain expenditure will arise this year by reason of the fact that staff has to be put on the task of preparing the scheme, and certain advertising has to be undertaken. For that reason, it is necessary to take a token Vote to enable the cost to be defrayed. It hoped to appoint May 1st as the appointed day under the scheme, and to commence the payment of allowances on August 1st.

Mr. D. Morrissey

Will the Minister, in any advertising he is doing, endeavour to convey to the public what charges, if any, are to be paid to the registrar for the furnishing of those birth certificates?

Mr. Lemass

The charge was mentioned in an advertisement which has been published.

Mr. D. Morrissey

It was not in the one which I read, and a very large number of people have come to ask me whether it would be cheaper to get birth or baptismal certificates. I would ask the Minister if that would be emphasised again.

Mr. Lemass

I will look into that.

Mr. M. O'Sullivan

Can the Minister say if, in the recruitment of staff, the usual channels of the labour exchange will be utilised?

Mr. Lemass

In the main, the staff that will be employed in the administration of the scheme will be a permanent staff. Some temporary staff may be required in the initial stages, but, if so, the staff will be recruited from a panel of those who are interviewed in connection with such posts, and which is still in use in the Department of Industry and Commerce.

Mr. Dillon

A great deal of heart-burnings are often caused, when new schemes are initiated, among a large number of indigent people who hope that employment will become available. Do I understand that a panel of persons desirous of working as temporary clerks in the Department is maintained, and that when vacancies of this kind arise the panel is exhausted before new applications are considered, and that it is open to any respectable person who desires work as a temporary clerk in the Department of Industry and Commerce to request that his or her name should be put on the panel?

Mr. Lemass

No.

Mr. Dillon

May I clarify that? What I understood was that if respectable persons desire employment of that character they can ask to have their names put on the panel, and that, in due course, their applications will be considered in rotation with the others. If that is not the practice, perhaps the Minister will outline what is the practice in regard to temporary employment in the Department of Industry and Commerce in connection with undertakings of this character.

Mr. Lemass

I cannot say to what extent temporary staff will be required. It is possible, however, to say that some temporary staff will be required—I should say, almost entirely female clerical staff. Some time ago a selection board was set up to interview applicants for such posts in the Department of Supplies and in the Department of Industry and Commerce. A very large number of applicants was interviewed and placed in order of merit by the selection board. As temporary vacancies arise in either Department people are called from that list, that is, the list of those who were recommended by the selection board for that type of employment. Occasionally, of course, people who are called for employment are disemployed, and, again, they go back on the list and have another chance of reemployment. The procedure has always been to call people from the list of candidates approved by the selection board, and it is not yet exhausted.

Mr. M. O'Sullivan

In connection with the panel, will the Minister say if ex-employees of Hospitals Trust are getting preferential treatment in being called for interview by the selection board before other possible applicants?

Mr. Lemass

There is no distinction made between one type of applicant and another.

Mr. Lynch

Have all the applicants to register at the labour exchange in the first instance?

Mr. Lemass

Yes.

Mr. Dillon

Is the Minister sure of that, or is it the case that any respectable citizen desiring this particular kind of work can ask to be interviewed, when the opportunity offers, by the selection board with a view to having his or her name put on the panel for employment with that of other persons? It is important that everyone should know that there is equality of procedure for everybody.

Mr. Lemass

I wish to make it clear that a person applying now has no immediate prospect of getting an appointment. The list of persons who have applied since the present list was set up is being maintained, and these persons will have an opportunity of appearing before any selection board that may be set up in future for posts of a similar kind. The selection board which prepared the present list met some time before the end of 1942, or early in 1943. The list of candidates approved by the board, and in the order approved, has been in use since. I may have misled Deputy Lynch. I should have said that any person who applied at that time, and who appeared suitable, was permitted to go before the selection board together with all those whose names were sent forward by the employment exchange. There were up to 1,000 persons interviewed, but not all of them were recommended by the selection board as suitable.

Mr. Pattison

Was their previous employment, if any, regarded as a qualification?

Mr. Lemass

I do not think so. The selection board had regard to educational qualifications.

Mr. Pattison

A good many seem to think that a preference has been given to ex-employees of Hospitals Trust.

Mr. Lemass

I should say that if such an impression exists it was probably due to the fact that the selection board, in recommending applicants in order of suitability, would have had regard to previous experience of the same kind.

Mr. M. O'Sullivan

It is important, I think, that we should know if the original selections made by the selection board were drawn exclusively from the labour exchange list.

Mr. Lemass

Yes.

Mr. Dillon

Surely, the Minister is contradicting himself. Were the people interviewed drawn exclusively from the labour exchange lists?

Mr. Lemass

No. Every person sent forward by the labour exchange was interviewed together with any other person who applied.

Mr. Lynch

Will that practice continue: that persons other than those registering at the labour exchange can, if this selection board is set up, apply?

Mr. Lemass

Yes. There have been a number of applications since for posts of this kind, but they cannot be considered until there is a selection board set up. Their names, however, have been recorded.

Vote put and agreed to.