asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will state the average weekly turnover in cash and deposits transmitted through Baltinglass post office for the past two years.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Baltinglass Post Office.
Mr. Brennan
The average weekly turnover at Baltinglass sub-post office for the past two years was £1,130.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs whether, in view of the fact that he stated the names of four members of the Dáil and Seanad who recommended Mr. Michael Farrell for the position of sub-postmaster in Baltinglass, he will state the names of all other members of the Dáil and Seanad who recommended him.
The following members of the Oireachtas recommended Mr. Farrell: Deputies J. Davern, R. Ryan, J. McQuillan, E. Rooney, O. J. Flanagan and Senators A. Fogarty and S. Hayes.
Is the Minister aware that Deputy Flanagan has claimed that he got the position for Farrell by threatening the Minister that he would expose two Labour scandals and also by getting the Minister for Agriculture, as Deputy Flanagan said, to squeeze the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, Mr. Everett?
I wish to deny that emphatically. The Minister for Agriculture never approached me and Deputy Cogan has the wrong facts in connection with this matter as he has them in everything else.
I have the correct facts.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will state whether he received a petition signed by the priests and people of Baltinglass strongly recommending Miss H. Cooke for the position of sub-postmistress, the date on which he received it and the nature of his reply to the petition.
A memorial signed by the parish priest, a curate and a number of local residents was received in May last in support of Miss H. H. Cooke's application for the position of sub-postmistress of Baltinglass. The memorial was in the form of a recommendation and did not call for a reply.
Can the Minister state why he defied the priests and people of Baltinglass and threw an honest, faithful, Irish Catholic worker out of employment in defiance——
The Deputy asked for certain information and he has got it.
Will the Deputy take the opinion of the people of Baltinglass?
It has been taken.
Mr. Brennan
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will state whether the advertisement inviting applications for the position of subpostmaster in Baltinglass stated that relatives of the retiring sub-postmistress other than immediate blood relatives would not be eligible for appointment; if the advertisement did not contain such an announcement was Miss Cooke held by him to be disqualified for appointment merely on the grounds that she was a relative of the retiring sub-postmistress and if this was not the ground for refusing to appoint her, whether he alleges that the candidate appointed is better qualified than Miss Cooke on (a) grounds of general character; (b) actual experience of post office work, or (c) steadiness and reliability.
The answers to the first and second parts of this question are in the negative. As regards the third part, I would refer the Deputy to my reply to a somewhat similar question by Deputy Cogan on the 6th December.
Mr. Brennan
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs whether, arising out of the statement made by him in Dáil Éireann on December 7th that he had appointed Mr. M. T. Farrell as sub-postmaster at Baltinglass Post Office because he was the better candidate on the grounds of character, financial stability, etc., it is to be taken that, in the Minister's view: (i) Mr. Farrell's character and reputation is better than Miss Cooke's and, if so, whether he will state the grounds for this view; (ii) Mr. Farrell has more knowledge of the regulations governing the administration of sub-post offices in towns like Baltinglass; (iii) Mr. Farrell has had more experience of the management and operation of sub-post offices and, if this is the Minister's view, whether he will state where Mr. Farrell gained such experience; further, whether the Minister's view that Mr. Farrell was more generally suitable for the post than Miss Cooke is based on the assumption that Mr. Farrell possesses the higher educational qualifications of the two; and, if so, whether the Minister required the candidates to submit themselves to an educational test.
I would refer the Deputy to my reply to a somewhat similar question by Deputy Cogan on the 6th December. I have nothing to add to the information given in that reply and in my statement on the 7th December.
Can the Minister state what recommendation he got from Miss Cooke's immediate superior in Naas? Is it not a fact that the postmaster in Naas emphatically recommended Miss Cooke for this position?
Mr. Brennan
Is the Minister aware of the fact that the people of Baltinglass, who are the best judges of the proper person to fill the position of sub-postmaster in Baltinglass and who have had years of experience——
The Deputy may not make a speech on a supplementary question.
Mr. Brennan
——believe that Miss Cooke should have been appointed and not a henchman of the Minister's?
Ask Deputy Davern.