On this Estimate last night I was drawing the Minister's attention, just when progress was reported, to a communication which was addressed to him by a Deputy. I very strongly resented the action of the Minister in disclosing the information contained in that letter to the Press. I do not want to repeat what I said last night, but I would be very glad to get an assurance from the Minister that he will not continue this practice in the future. Since I became a member of the House three years ago, I have never known of a case where a Deputy made representations through any Minister and these representations were made public property in the daily papers. I think it is a practice that no Minister should carry out.
The Taoiseach made an appeal to the House for the co-operation of all Deputies with the members of his Cabinet, and when Deputies are anxious to make representations and recommendations to Ministers and when they are really at heart sincere in advising the Ministers in the discharge of their duties, it is very bad policy that any Minister, and particularly the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, should write to the editors of papers and have published copies of any communication addressed to him by any member of the House. I hope that practice will be discontinued and that we will get an assurance from the Minister that it will not happen again. We had one experience of it some months ago and we do not want another.
I sincerely hope that the Minister will give consideration to the appointment, in provincial towns, of post office messengers. Since we have had such a great volume of emigration, all the emigrants, the 175,000 who are employed in England, have relatives in this country and every week they send them an allowance. It is sent by telegram to the people here. Take the town of Mountmellick, to which I have referred in the course of correspondence with the Minister. We had a post office messenger there, but for reasons best known to the Department the post was discontinued, although the volume of telegraph traffic was never so high. Some steps should be taken to provide messengers in all provincial towns.
The general public do not seem to have much of a grouse so far as this Department is concerned. When the Minister's Department resumes its activities, now that the emergency is over, I suggest he should speed up daily deliveries in all rural areas, the erection of letter-boxes in rural areas and the erection of telephone kiosks in provincial towns. If the public get such services they will appreciate them very much. I had occasion to make strong representations to the Minister's Department in connection with the provision of letter-boxes for an area where we have no post office convenient.
I refer to Gurteen, quite convenient to the town of Roscrea, County Tipperary. It is in my constituency. The Minister stated that a letter-box was not necessary in this area. I should like to have the matter again considered. I am sure the postmaster in Roscrea will be prepared to recommend it, seeing that the appeal for it comes from a large number of local residents. If a letter-box is erected in this area it will be a great benefit to the public there.
With regard to sub-post offices, I am sorry to note that we have a lot of sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses who find themselves in certain difficulties in so far as they are the custodians of the funds of the Department. In my own constituency I know of a number of cases where sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses have got themselves into slight difficulties. The reason is that they were handling State money and they were not in receipt of a decent wage, sufficient to enable them to live without tampering with State funds. If the Minister wants these people to carry out their duties in a straightforward and honest manner, and if he wants to rely upon and trust these people, he must see that they are put in an independent way of living and will have sufficient salary to avoid any temptation with respect to the public funds entrusted to them. I make a strong appeal to the Minister to consider most sympathetically the salaries attached to these offices and I think the public will not stand in the way of substantial increases in this connection.
As for the telephone service, I cannot say that in my constituency I have any great complaints. There is an excellent telephone service in Birr, in the Tullamora area, and in the Portlaoignise area. There is no delay in getting on to the Capital. I have heard none of my constituents making any great complaints about delays in getting calls. I realise that other Deputies may have good grounds for complaint, Deputies such as Deputy Kennedy, from Westmeath. I am sure the Minister will not lose sight of the complaints made and that in time all those things will be remedied.
It would be most unfair if I sat down without paying a compliment to the Minister for the manner in which he has discharged his duties. Only on very rare occasions could I stand up here and compliment any of the Fianna Fáil Ministers, but I find I never had any reason to cross swords with the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs. In that respect I am unlike other Deputies, such as my colleagues from South Mayo and other areas, who seem to have good grounds for making very serious allegations against the Department. Speaking for my own constituency, so far as political appointments are concerned, I am quite satisfied that if I knew of an appointment in any branch of the Minister's Department, made on political grounds, I would have no hesitation in exposing it in very strong language. So far I have no reason for making any such complaint against the Department. I am very frank about it. I would be dishonest to myself as a Deputy, dishonest to my constituents, and dishonest to the Minister, if I did not say that the appointments made in every respect in my constituency were given to the applicants who were most qualified and who were most suited therefor.
To the best of my knowledge these appointments were made without interference. I had occasion to make recommendations to the Minister, but they would be recommendations merely as to good character. I always leave it to the officers of the Department to find out if persons that I recommended had the necessary qualifications for the post they sought, and requested that the applications might then be given sympathetic consideration. I found the present Minister for Posts and Telegraphs always very kind and helpful. He was always anxious to advise and assist in every possible way. For that reason I think there is no ground for any serious complaint from this side of the House. I hope that in the coming year he will be able to continue the progress which the Department has made under him. The money that is spent by the Department is being spent for the good of the public, in giving good service, and no taxpayer is prepared to give even a second thought to question the manner in which the funds placed at the disposal of the Department are administered.