asked the Minister for Local Government and Public Health whether, having regard to the decision to provide for the payment of increased bonus related to the present cost of living to persons affected by Emergency Powers Order No. 260, he is now prepared to sanction the payment of corresponding increases to the employees of local authorities in the lower income groups, and, if so, whether he will say if such sanction will be notified without delay.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Local Authorities' Employees Bonus.
The circumstances of the employees of local authorities are in general quite different from those of industrial workers employed in ordinary private employment, who are subject to all the vicissitudes associated with such employment. Accordingly a proposal which applies to one category does not necessarily apply to the other. Persons engaged in industrial employment who may be affected by the amendment of Emergency Powers (No. 260) Order, 1943, do not become entitled automatically to the payment of a bonus but have to make application for a hearing at a tribunal in accordance with the procedure under that Order. Moreover, the Minister for Local Government and Public Health has to give careful consideration to the burdens which projected increases in expenditure, whether of remuneration or otherwise, impose on the local ratepayers before he sanctions such increases. It would, therefore, be premature to state at this stage what my attitude would be in relation to the particular matter referred to by the Deputy.
Since Order 260 has been belatedly amended and no change has taken place in the cost-of-living figure for the last two years, and as the Minister has, in effect, been governed by that Order in relation to local employees, does he not consider that this is a matter of urgency which should be dealt with immediately?
All I can say as Minister for Local Government is that the Order may have affected me, but it has not governed my actions in relation to this matter.