asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce whether he is aware that adult male applicants for clerkships of a temporary nature with Bord na Móna are offered a wage as low as £3 0s. 0d. per week, and if, in all the circumstances, he will take such steps as are necessary to ensure that wage rates of such an appallingly low level will no longer be tolerated in semi-State corporations.

I have no function in regard to the rates of wages or conditions of employment of employees of Bord na Móna, the responsibility for which rests entirely with that body.

Will the Minister not agree that it would be a scandalous headline to have set by a semi-State corporation, such as Bord na Móna, that a wage of £3 per week should be offered to an adult male worker? Will the Minister not agree that such a wage is a scandal?

I do not think that the Deputy in either his question or supplementary is setting out all the facts. In any case I think that as the question is a matter of negotiation at present, I had better leave it there.