§ 33. Mr. BYRNEasked the President of the Board of Trade whether any agreement has been made to place Board of Works employés and Irish Lights employés on the same level as those similarly employed in Great Britain; the amount of war bonus paid to those employés in Ireland and to those in Great Britain since the outbreak of war; and the total sum paid to both parties?
§ Mr. G. ROBERTSLabourers employed by the general lighthouse authorities are not Civil servants, and, as I informed the hon. Member on the 8th June, the practice of these authorities is to pay them the current local rate of wages and war bonus. The adoption of this principle necessarily involves differences of pay and war bonus in different localities, but the principle is an equitable one, and there seems no reason to depart from it. The preparation of the statistics asked for in the latter part of the question would involve an expenditure of time and labour which it does not appear justifiable to ask the lighthouse authorities to undertake. I have no information as regards the employés of the Irish Board of Works.