asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs whether, in view of the grave national crisis now arising from the dispute in the telecommunications section of his Department, he will now personally intervene with a view to resolving the problem without further delay.
Private Notice Question: - Telecommunications Dispute.
I very much regret the inconvenience and hardship caused to users of the telecommunications services and to the public generally as a result of action taken by certain engineering staff in the Department.
I explained to the House last week the background to the current difficulties. The industrial action began in May 1977, and has continued in a series of strikes and other acts aimed at disrupting the service which have involved groups of staff for different periods in many centres. Various efforts have been made over the period through the Employer Labour Conference and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions to bring the industrial action to an end. I accepted and implemented the proposals in every case and these would have allowed any claims, problems or proposals to be processed speedily through the agreed procedure. The IPOEU also accepted these proposals but did not honour them.
It has been suggested that I should accede to truce proposals. In fact, I have twice previously done so and cancelled all suspensions, but the agreed proposals were not honoured by the union. The alleged issues on which the present industrial action is being taken are related to a productivity deal, to work practice and to staff rules and regulations. I explained in detail to the House that these cannot be the real reasons. If they were, they could be dealt with within the procedures agreed with all unions in the Department and the Department are more than willing to deal with them within these procedures. I have already guaranteed that all problems will be dealt with speedily and sympathetically as soon as normal work is resumed.
The problem has been that some members of the executive of the union have been campaigning openly against the executive and threatening to bring the Department—that means the community—to its knees by a disruption of the telecommunications services. The response to my appeal to the union last month to implement the settlement arranged by ICTU was the withdrawal of "key" men from the Central Telephone Exchange. That, in itself, was an unwarranted escalation of the dispute since at that time no one was on strike or suspended in the Central Telephone Exchange. The withdrawal of the key men by itself would have adverse effects on the telephone service only over a period. Shortly afterwards, however, widespread interference began with the circuits, and the service began rapidly to slide to a halt. Service was grievously affected by Friday evening last. Management checks over last week-end established 1. that very large numbers of trunk circuits were out of service because power and other essential supplies had been disconnected; 2. the western coaxial cable system which supplies the telephone service to the west and north-west was found to be out of service because a wire had been disconnected; 3. large numbers of trunk circuits were found to be out of service as a result of being wired together in such a manner as to make them unusable.
Management succeeded in bringing a very large number of these circuits back into operation and, by 8 o'clock on Monday morning, very considerable progress had been made in restoring full service. Shortly afterwards a number of suspended or striking technicians attended at the exchange saying they were coming back in response to my appeal to return to work. Soon after, it was found that most of the work done over the week-end had been undone and the country was isolated again. Some of these men refused to leave the exchange on being directed elsewhere and a court order for their ejection had to be obtained. This morning there was a similar attempt to invade the exchange. I am glad to say that efforts by management last night and today have succeeded in restoring some services.
As I outlined in reply on the adjournment last week, the basic consideration here, dealing as we are with an essential service to the public, is that there must be orderly, peaceful procedures for settling claims and problems. If these are to be set aside, then the service will be subject to disruption at the whim of any individual or group within the service and the community will suffer. Such machinery is, of course, available.
The Civil Service Conciliation and Arbitration Scheme, which caters for almost all civil servants operates to the advantage of the staff and the public. There are also domestic procedures agreed with the Post Office unions for the solution of problems. The agreements are there but, as I have said on a number of occasions, none of them is sacrosanct. For example, if the civil service staff organisations concluded that the Conciliation and Arbitration Scheme needed to be changed, I have no doubt the Minister for the Public Service would consider any proposals made to him in the matter. Similarly, in relation to the agreements operating in my Department, if the various unions urge that these are in need of change or, indeed, if they consider they are not operating as they were intended to, I will gladly consider any complaints or proposals for change.
The kernal of this whole dispute, and it is a matter those who are calling on me to settle this dispute must consider, is whether there is going to be an orderly way of resolving claims and problems within my Department. It seems to me that what some of those who are calling on me to settle the issue are saying is that I should set aside the orderly procedures at the instance of a minority group within one of the civil service unions taking unofficial action, because that was what was involved here. To accede to this would be a recipe for chaos and would undermine the position of all the unions who are prepared to honour the agreements they have made.
The way to end this dispute is for the union and the staff to call off their industrial action and return to the use of agreed procedures for settling claims and problems. I have repeatedly appealed to them to do that and assured them that, if they did so, I would give their claims and problems urgent and sympathetic consideration. This is the only way forward. I would hope the union and the staff would realise this and act accordingly. They have nothing to lose and everything to gain by adopting this course.
I would appeal to Deputies on all sides of the House and to the public generally to use any influence they may have with those involved to get them to accept that this is the only responsible way for dealing with whatever problems they may have, and so bring to an end the crippling effects of their actions on the community at large.
The House will have noted with deep concern that statement by the Minister and will unanimously deplore some aspects of the facts to which he has drawn our attention. Will the Taoiseach accept that his refusal to take this question personally will be seen as reflecting an unwillingness to admit that we face a major crisis as a result of this dispute?
Since that supplementary question has been directed to me I want to say I have been in the closest possible contact with the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs during the entire period of this dispute which, as the Deputy knows, extends back to the time when he and his colleagues were in office. I have every confidence in the Minister in his handling of this dispute. I agree wholeheartedly with the manner in which he has been undertaking the functions which I entrusted to him. I do not intend at this stage to take over the Minister's function in this respect. I want to assure the House and the country that this whole affair is being conducted in a reasonable and I hope a sympathetic and responsible way by the Government as a whole.
I note the Taoiseach said he does not intend at this stage to intervene. How much more serious has the situation to become before the Taoiseach will accept that it has reached the stage at which he should intervene?
That is not a relevant question. This is a Special Notice Question and we cannot have any further questions on it. I am calling on the Taoiseach to announce the Order of Business.
Does the Minister realise the gravity of this situation? It is time to call a spade a spade. This has been going on for far too long. The whole industrial and commercial life of the country is being ground to a standstill. The Minister's reply today was exactly the same as it was a week ago. Surely there must be some initiative which could be taken by the Minister and the Government.
A Special Notice Question does not permit of a debate.
I want to make it clear that I am particularly anxious to have this problem solved. During the seven months I have been in office there has been a constant repetition— as happened during the time the previous Government were in power—of certain actions by this particular union and I think it will be agreed that I exercised restraint. There were many occasions when I felt it had become necessary for me to take certain measures but so long as I felt there was any possibility of bringing the dispute to an end I continued to exercise restraint. I want to appeal again to the members of the union and to their executive to go back to work. As I said before, I can assure them of every sympathy in dealing with the problems facing them.