asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will make available to the House the written rules and regulations, current on 1 February 1978, concerning each category of employee in his Department; if he feels that these rules and regulations are a contributing factor to the current unrest in his Department; if he proposes to amend these regulations; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Departmental Rules and Regulations.
204.
The staff of my Department are civil servants and are subject to the rules and regulations which apply to civil servants generally. These rules and regulations derive in the main from legislation or from the conditions of appointment to the various grades. There are also rules and regulations deriving from Post Office legislation or from work requirements peculiar to my Department.
There are some 130 grades employed in the Department, excluding certain industrial employees, contractors and so on. There is no convenient form in which the rules and regulations concerning all these grades could be made available to the House. I am, however, placing in the Oireachtas Library a copy of a general staff rule book which applies to staff in departmental grades in my Department, such as Post Office clerks, postal sorters, postmen and telephone operating staff. Although the book is out of date in a number of respects and is in course of updating, it will give Deputies a good general indication of the rules and regulations obtaining in the Department.
As regards the amendment of staff rules and regulations, I would refer the Deputy to the written reply I gave on 1 February 1978 in which I state that I had arranged for a comprehensive review of staff rules and regulations to be undertaken by the Department and that the staff organisations had been invited to give their views on changes they would wish to have considered.
I am satisfied that the current industrial actions are not due in any way to staff rules and regulations.