asked the Minister for Local Government if he is aware that road workers employed by the Offaly County Council have 5/- per week less than the Laois road workers; and if he will take steps to raise the Offaly rate of pay to the Laois level as the Offaly workers suffered great injustice in that employees in the neighbouring county enjoy a higher rate of pay for the same work.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Road Workers' Wages.
The determination of such questions as that referred to by the Deputy is a matter for the local authority.
The Minister indicated in reply to a question last week that his Department had approved of an increase of 5/- per week for the road workers in Laois. Offaly is under the administration of the same county manager but the road workers there are at present receiving 5/- less than their counterparts in Laois and at the same time the local building rate is £6 4s. per week while the rate for the county council road workers is less than £4. Surely in that set of circumstances the Minister should take some action. If the county manager is not doing his duty it is the duty of the Minister to take action in this respect.
My responsibility begins and ends with consideration of the proposals submitted by local authorities with a view to affording the necessary sanction or rejecting the proposals. Any proposals submitted to me have been disposed of.
If the county manager in his wisdom decides to ignore the unanimous wishes and recommendations of the county council, as he has done in Laois, and if he wants to be fair to the road workers employed by Offaly County Council, why does he not submit a recommendation to level up the wages of the road workers who live in the same towns but are employed, on the one hand, by Offaly and, on the other, by Laois?
Local bodies have a legal means of dealing with county managers who prove unsatisfactory to them.
Is the Minister aware that the county manager has ignored the unanimous wishes and recommendations of the county council in this matter?
If the members are dissatisfied they have a legal means of dealing with their county manager.
That is not always an easy thing to do.
asked the Minister for Local Government if he will state whether or not the county manager has submitted any recommendation for any increase in wages paid to road workers employed by the Offaly County Council since last July; and, if not, the reason for his failure to do so.
The submission of proposals dealing with wages of local authority employees is entirely a matter for the local authority concerned.
In view of the very unsatisfactory reply given by the Minister, I give notice now of my intention to raise this matter on the Adjournment with the permission of the Chair.
I will consider it with several others and communicate with the Deputy in due course.
asked the Minister for Local Government if he will state the date on which the Laois County Council decided to increase the road workers rates of wages by 12/6 per week, the date on which the county manager submitted his recommendation to the Department and particulars of the recommendation, and further, the reasons, if any, why the manager refuses to carry out the wishes and decisions of the council on this and other financial matters.
The manager's order, submitted to the Department on 18th September, proposed to increase the wages by 5/- a week from 13th October, 1952. This proposal was sanctioned on the 19th November.
Is the Minister aware that when his views were conveyed to the Laois County Council, the county council still adhered to their original decision to increase the rates of wages paid to their road workers by 10/-? Is the Minister now going to ignore the repeated recommendations of the county council and accept those of the county manager?
The Minister is not aware that he conveyed any views of his to the Laois County Council. What he did convey was sanction to that body's proposal to increase the wages of their road workers as from a certain date in October. That was not conveyed in the form of a view. It was conveyed as a definite sanction of their own proposal.
Will the Minister explain why the county manager in this particular case refused to submit the unanimous recommendation of the Laois County Council in the first instance and subsequently confirmed by the same body? Has the county manager the right to refuse to submit the views of his council on these financial matters?
I have no responsibility in relation to any discussions that take place in local bodies. My sole responsibility is to consider submissions made to me by local bodies and to accept, approve, sanction or reject them.
Will the Minister say if the county council as a body have no rights in this matter? Is the county manager a county dictator?