I had three questions on the Order Paper yesterday, all dealing with the same matter — the question of the appointment of a certain clerk of works by the Limerick County Council, which appointment — or reappointment, I submit—the Minister refused to sanction. I am raising this question because I consider that the Minister has been guilty of injustice to the person whose appointment he refused to sanction and that he has been guilty as well of a piece of political jobbery in the way in which he handled this matter and in the appointment he has succeeded in having made.
Early this year the Limerick County Council advertised for applications for appointments as clerks of works to supervise certain housing schemes. An individual named Richard Sheehy, who formerly carried out these duties for the Limerick County Council, applied for the position. His application was successful and he was notified by the housing engineer of the Limerick County Council in due course that he was appointed and he was directed to take up duty. According to the Minister's reply his appointment was notified to the Department of Local Government on the 1st April, 1950. According to the information which I have, Richard Sheehy was acting as clerk of works with the Abbeyfeale housing scheme for 11 weeks before he was notified by letter dated the 20th May from the office of the housing engineer to the Limerick County Council that "the Minister for Local Government had refused to sanction your appointment to the above post. Accordingly I give you a week's notice as from the 20th May to terminate your temporary appointment. Please return all documents you have received in connection with this scheme on Saturday, 27th instant." It amazes me that, in the first place, it took the Minister from the 1st April to the 12th May to make up his mind about this matter. It would be interesting if we could discover what went on behind the scenes in the meantime during that protracted period for dealing with what was regarded as a rather urgent appointment. The housing scheme had started. It was necessary to have some supervision and to have the Minister's decision in regard to the appointment of the Limerick County Council sent forward. I was told in reply to Question No. 18 that seven persons applied for the appointment to the post and that two subsequently withdrew their applications; that the examination of the applications and qualifications of the remaining candidates showed that the person proposed for appointment had not applied for the post in the proper form and was not, in any event, the best qualified for it. That is very strange. Richard Sheehy was appointed clerk of works by the Limerick County Council when housing activities by way of the building of labourers' cottages started in Limerick in 1934. He continued as a clerk of works up to 1942 — until activities in the building of labourers' cottages ceased and there was no more work for him. Then his services were terminated. That was eight years' apparently satisfactory service as clerk of works. As far as I know, and as far as he knows, there was no unsatisfactory comment either by his direct employers or by the officials of the Department of Local Government in regard to the supervisory work that he did. Up to the year 1926, he had acted as supervising ganger for the Limerick County Council. In the year 1926 these posts were abolished and, accordingly, Mr. Sheehy, with several others who were in employment of the same character, lost his appointment.
The Minister says that he refused sanction first of all because the application was on the wrong form. I regard that answer as contemptible subterfuge. The form was regarded as satisfactory by the Limerick County Council, the housing engineer and the county manager, I presume, who made the appointment. If the Minister is going to base refusal of sanction on a subterfuge of that kind, I make him a present of it. It then transpired, the Minister said, that he was not the best qualified person for the appointment. We can differ on that also, as I will point out to the Minister later on.
In addition to the experience he had gained during the eight years, Mr. Sheehy acted as clerk of works to the Limerick County Council supervising the building of labourers' cottages. He had excellent Old I.R.A. service. He belonged to a family that had given outstanding service in West Limerick to the cause of Irish independence. I do not know whether that would have any particular appeal to the Minister or not. I presume it would not.
The next thing to which I want to draw attention in connection with this juggling is the method by which his successor was appointed. In reply to Question No. 19 yesterday, the Minister told me that the council's proposal was for the appointment of Patrick Mann, that his appointment was notified to the Department on 6th June and was sanctioned by 13th June—in one week. That is an amazing change from the attitude of the Minister in regard to the other case. It took him seven or eight weeks to make up his mind before he notified the county council of the refusal to sanction Mr. Sheehy. I do not know much about the man who was to succeed Mr. Sheehy, whose appointment the Minister refused to sanction, but I understand that when cottages were being built by the county council in 1934 to 1942, this man was a contractor and not a very satisfactory one, so much so that on one occasion he was compelled to demolish a structure that he built and to rebuild it to the satisfaction of the clerk of works. In spite of that, the Minister says that he has experience of building works over a number of years — yes, but could the Minister say what kind of building works?—and that he has a thorough knowledge of all branches of the building trade.
Would I be right in suggesting that the sole reason why Mr. Sheehy was refused sanction and the other gentleman was appointed was because Mr. Mann happens to be a political pal of the Minister's whom he wanted to assist? Would I be right in suggesting that this appointment of Mr. Mann was not made by the Limerick County Council but was made at the direction of the Minister, by the direct intervention of the Minister? I understood that the Minister was standing for restoration, as he calls it, of the powers that were filched from the local authorities under the County Management Act. If that is so, how does the Minister justify an appointment that I consider was made because of the Minister's direct intervention and direct instruction to the officials of the Limerick County Council who are responsible for submitting this appointment? Why was not this gentleman appointed in the first instance? Why was not his name submitted for the appointment in the first instance by the Limerick County Council if his qualifications were, as the Minister tells me in his reply, so outstanding? How is it that Mr. Sheehy was selected in preference to him? I could gather that he was an applicant when the applications were first considered by the housing engineer and when he made his recommendation to the county manager.
I submit that this case is an outstanding case of jugglery on the part of the Minister, that he has simply perpetrated a job for a political pal and that he has been guilty of an injustice to a man who gave satisfactory and good service for eight years to the Limerick County Council as clerk of works.
There is a suggestion that Mr. Sheehy was refused sanction because he happens to be a small farmer. I hope that we have not reached the time when a man who is qualified for a position will be refused it on grounds of that nature. There is not a Clann na Talmhan Deputy in the House but I hope that the farmers' representatives who sit behind the Minister will not stand for an injustice of that kind. The man whom I speak of and who has been treated unjustly, in my opinion, by the Minister for Local Government, happens to be a small farmer all right but that should not debar him from an appointment if he is considered otherwise satisfactory. I think this whole thing is disgraceful.
If there was one Minister on those benches from whom I would not expect a decision of this unjust nature, it was the Minister for Local Government, but I have to change my opinion about him now. I did not think he would be guilty of any injustice of this kind to a fellow county man. I only regret that I have to raise this matter and to have, so to speak, to put the Minister on the mat in regard to what I consider a grave injustice committed by the Minister in regard to this appointment.
