asked the Minister for Finance the progress to date at conciliation and arbitration level concerning the claim for full civil and political rights by public servants.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Civil and Political Rights.
43.
Claims presented at the general council and the Departmental council of the Department of Posts and Telegraphs have been under examination and it is hoped to resume discussions in the near future.
May I ask the Minister if he would be prepared to expedite these discussions and urge the official side particularly to end this gross discrimination which, I would point out to the Minister, has been the subject of discussion now for something like five or six years?
If the Deputy had confined his question to a simple question and not put implications into it, then I might be able to answer it more precisely.
I am saying that this matter has been urgently before conciliation and arbitration and——
If the Deputy had stopped after the first sentence I would be able to give him a very definite answer.
The Minister will not direct me in regard to my supplementary questions. The Ceann Comhairle has that privilege—nobody else. I ask the Minister a straightforward question: will he please, after 12 months of conciliation, after five years of agitation, after 20 years of political demand, concede political rights to public servants? You can go up an ESB pole and you have rights and you can go up a post office pole and you have not.
The Deputy began with a simple question "Would the Minister expedite the matter?". If he had stopped there I would have given him an unequivocal "Yes".