asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the circumstances in which post office engineering section employees may undertake overtime work.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Post Office Workers' Overtime.
8.
Overtime in the Department's engineering branch may be authorised on various grounds, the most common being to provide for vacancies or abnormal absences, for essential maintenance work which requires to be done outside normal hours, for urgent construction work and for special works which may arise from time to time.
Could I ask the Minister if there have been any changes recently as to how such authorisations are given in respect of overtime?
Is the Minister telling the House there are no extraordinary restrictions on overtime in the Department?
There has always been an effort in my Department to keep overtime within control, and of course in such a time as we have now, which combines both financial stringency and unemployment, it is obvious that there is still need, perhaps even greater need than ever, to restrict overtime to cases where it becomes urgently necessary under criteria such as have been constantly applied.
Am I to take it from what the Minister has just said that the cutback in overtime is to allow for an extra intake of manpower into the Department, and could he say how many people have been taken in? Is it not a fact that there is no employment in the Department——
The Deputy is entering a new area.
It arises from the Minister's reply.
It is a separate question.
Is it true to say that instructions were issued from the Department recently cutting to a minimum the amount of overtime being carried out simply because of lack of finance, and that, in fact, this ban is extremely uneconomic, particularly in rural areas?
No, the rules regarding overtime remain the same as they have been.
That is not a fact.