asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs why a registered letter from the Department of Local Government dated 23 December, 1960, and addressed to the Chairman of Mountmellick Town Commissioners, c/o Town Hall, Mountmellick, was not delivered; if this registered communication has been traced; and if he will give an explanation concerning it.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Mountmellick Town Commissioners: Non-Delivery of Letter.
32.
The registered letter referred to was posted at the peak of Christmas mail pressure. It has been established that it was not amongst the registered mails which reached Mountmellick at the material time but it has not been possible to determine the cause of this failure or to trace the missing item.
Is it possible that there is no machinery available in the Minister's Department to trace an important document sent out by registered post? Is it not a fact that a registered communication sent from Dublin is usually stamped in the central post office at Portlaoise? Does the Minister know if the letter arrived at Portlaoise or even if it ever left Dublin?
We cannot say whether it arrived in Portlaoise or not, but we do know it did not arrive in Mountmellick. There were 18,000 registered items in the registered enclosure in Pearse Street that day. Seventy-nine registered items were sent from Dublin to Portlaoise. When the number of registered items is large, there is not an individual record on the bill sent with the items. Only the number of items is recorded on the bill. Between Portlaoise and Mountmellick fourteen items were for forwarding. They were recorded individually on the bill, but there is no record of this item on the bill.
Is the Minister aware that when this document was under discussion at the meeting of the Town Commissioners, the county manager referred to this document, which apparently never reached Mountmellick, as having been read by the Town Clerk to the Town Commissioners?
That is a separate matter.
It has a very bad smell.