asked the Minister for Local Government and Public Health if he will state what measures were employed to establish, in County Roscommon, the agricultural committee and the vocational committee; and if he will give particulars of how the suitability of persons appointed to these committees was determined, and by whom the relevant information was supplied to him in the case of appointments to each committee.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Appointments to Roscommon Committees.
I would refer the Deputy to the provisions of Section 52 of the Local Government Act, 1941. That section enables the Minister when the members of a county council are removed from office to make such provision as he thinks necessary or expedient for the appointment of members of any subsidiary body which is required by law to be composed of persons nominated by the county council. In doing so he has sole responsibility for determining the suitability of the persons appointed.
I wish to say that whoever was responsible for the selection overlooked a certain area in County Roscommon. The area I refer to previously elected four county councillors. Strange to say, no representative was selected from that area.
The Deputy may ask a supplementary question, not make a speech.
I should like the Minister to consider the position.
I have nothing to add to my reply. As I informed the Deputy, the responsibility for appointing representatives of these subsidiary bodies rests on the Minister, and has been imposed on him by law. The Minister acts on his own responsibility. It is very regrettable that a Minister should be driven to dissolve local authorities, and that he should be compelled to exercise discretion in this matter, but when he is forced to do it, he has to do it, and that is all.
Is it right to leave a large area of County Roscommon without representation?
There is no obligation imposed by statute on the Minister to allocate representation to any particular area in a county when he has dissolved the county council.
Will the Minister tell us who gave him the advice? He does not know people in County Roscommon. Who gave him the advice? Would he mind telling us that?
The Minister in matters of this kind has sources of information which he keeps confidential, but which are reliable.
It would be well to let them be known.