asked the Minister for Finance the progress, if any, in the recruitment of additional and necessary staff to ensure early commencement of the Mulkear river arterial drainage scheme presently affecting areas in Counties Tipperary and Limerick.
Written Answers. - Mulkear River Drainage Scheme.
77.
The prospects of further recruitment from the competition for engineers held in November last and for the holding of a further competition were not realised due to the postal strike. However, there has been a good response from final year students expecting to qualify this year to a recent invitation to attend interviews for posts as temporary engineers and it is hoped to effect recruitment thereby.
In addition negotiations on the claim for revision of the salary scales of engineers in the civil service have made good progress and this development will be of assistance in attracting and retaining engineers.
The anticipated improvement in staffing will accelerate the rate of progress of the national arterial drainage programmes and so benefit all projects, including a scheme for the Mulkear catchment. However, having regard to the considerable amount of work yet to be done in the preparation of the Mulkear scheme and to other commitments it will be some years yet before that scheme will be ready.