asked the Taoiseach if he will state for what reason a number of temporary civil servants who have been continuously attached to his Department for over three years recently received one month's notice of dismissal and indicate the number and status of those concerned; further, if he will make inquiries to see if it is possible to secure productive employment for them in other busy Departments of State.

Presumably the Deputy has in mind five male temporary clerks and eight female temporary clerical assistants, who were engaged in May, 1951, in connection with a specific task then being undertaken by the Central Statistics Office, namely, work on the Register of Population and the Census of Population, 1951. The persons concerned are under notice of discharge, as the work for which they were engaged has been completed. When they were being engaged, they were informed that their employment was definitely temporary and would probably last about two years. Appointment on these terms gives, of course, no ground for expectation of employment elsewhere in the Civil Service.

Could the Parliamentary Secretary say if it is true that at the moment there is overtime being worked in this Department? If so, it is rather difficult to understand why these dismissals should take place.

I am not aware of that.