asked the Minister for Local Government and Public Health if he is aware that Mr. Joseph Dardis has been in the employment of the Dublin County Council for three years and has given satisfaction to the county council; that he was in the motor office for one year, and that by order of his Department his services have been dispensed with, and the county council ordered to apply to the Appointments Commission to make a new appointment; if the Minister will state if there is any precedent for this action by the Minister, and is it now a fixed policy of his Department to direct the dismissal of Local Government officials for some unknown reason even though such officials are efficient; and if he will further state if any representations have been made to him by individuals or political clubs to have Mr. Dardis dismissed.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Appointment of Local Government Official.
I am aware of the circumstances detailed in the first two parts of the question. In this, as in numerous other cases, I have insisted that the practice of appointing persons to public offices without competition shall cease. Where a clerical vacancy, other than a purely temporary one, arises in the office of a local authority, it is the practice of my Department to secure that such vacancy be filled after open competition, preferably on the result of an examination.
I am unaware of the political views held by the gentleman in question. They had no bearing on my decision, and no representations based on them were made to me.
Is the Minister aware that this temporary appointment was made since he became Minister for Local Government, and is he aware that a clerk in the Dublin County Council office who held a temporary appointment since the Minister assumed office was, with the sanction of the Minister, promoted to the permanent staff? I accept the decision come to by the Minister's Department —I must accept it—that such appointments in future shall be filled by open competitive examination. If the Minister thinks that that is the best method, we cannot find fault with it, but does he not think that a hardship is involved in this case in which a young fellow has been in a position for three years? Since November, 1932, he has been in two departments in the county council—for 15 months in the housing department, and after 15 months, up to the 31st January, in the motor office, filling a position which, prior to his taking it up, was filled by a permanent official. This young fellow has given satisfaction to his immediate superior, to the secretary and to the county council, and does not the Minister think that it is a hardship, and without precedent, that that man should be fired out, and the Appointments Commissioners asked to fill the vacancy? The Minister may be striking out on a new path, which is a very good one and to which I subscribe. But, surely, people who are already filling with competence positions of a temporary nature are entitled to fair play and promotion, and I ask the Minister to reconsider the matter.
This case is certainly not without precedent. There are dozens of precedents since I became Minister for insisting, after a certain length of time when it can no longer be shown that there is urgent public necessity, that clerical positions of a temporary nature should be filled by open competitive examination. I have made orders in numerous cases for the filling of such clerical positions by competition. I have always tried to have those positions filled by competitive examination and to have the post awarded to the person who came first on the list. I have not always been met by the county councils or boards of health in that matter. On account of the pressure they exercised, I have had in a few cases to allow them to appoint a person other than the person who came first in the examination. This, however, is no new rule. It was in existence before I became Minister. The Department has, so far as I know, always tried to have these posts filled by competitive examination, but they have not always succeeded. In this case, I am told that the young man concerned has been continued, with the sanction of the Department for six months after six months, under pressure from the secretary of the county council and the board of health. They urged that it was necessary to have a temporary appointment, but that cannot go on for ever, and this is not the first time, even in the case of the Dublin County Council, that such procedure has been insisted upon. The rule is not a new one.
I am surprised at the Labour Party laughing at a matter of such importance.
The alleged laughter of the Labour Party must not be made the subject of a supplementary question.
Is the Minister aware that he authorised the secretary of the Dublin County Council to hold an examination as to the educational competence of a particular clerk and, on a favourable report from the secretary, sanctioned his appointment to the permanent staff?
I do not remember the case to which the Deputy alludes.
I beg to give notice that I shall raise this matter on the adjournment.