asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will state in respect of each of the last six months the number of temporary men (i) engaged or (ii) dismissed by the telephones and telephone cables installation section of his Department, and the reason for this trend.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Post Office Telephone Employees.
49.
The numbers of temporary men engaged on the telephone side of my Department's Engineering Branch in each of the last six months were as follows: 32 in July, 35 in August, nine in September, 36 in October, 25 in November and six in December. The numbers laid off in the same period were 56 in July, seven in August, 31 in September, 45 in October, 12 in November and eight in December. The trend indicated in these figures is in accordance with the normal pattern for this type of employment which varies in accordance with the demands of the work.
Will the Minister say why, this year, there are so few temporary men employed in the installation of telephones while there is such a colossal demand for more and more telephones? Why has the work of installation been slowed up?
There is no change. The figures which I have given the Deputy are approximately the same as those for last year. There is scarcely any difference.
Why is it that British contractors have been employed in increasing numbers in recent times while Irish workers are apparently being laid off for the same work?
Irish firms get every chance to tender for any of the things to which, I take it, the Deputy is referring.
That will be finished off in July.
These people will now be added to the other 8,000 people who have recently become unemployed. It is a deliberate creation of unemployment so as to run down the economy.
That is not true. The trend in my Department does not show any deterioration.
Why is it that the telephones that are wanted are not being installed?