(Dublin Central) asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he is satisfied that the contract section of his Department is adequately staffed to deal with the increasing demand for telephone service.

The staff serving at present is not sufficient in number for the volume of work and extensive overtime is accordingly being worked. A competition will be held shortly from which it is hoped to recruit more staff.

(Dublin Central): Could the Minister give some indication when this additional staff will be available? The information I have is that there is a backlog due to not having sufficient staff in this section.

The Deputy is correct, there is a backlog, and my Department are urgently concerned with this. The first necessity is the holding of the competition, as the Deputy will agree. The holding of the competition was held up owing to negotiations with the staff which were rather protracted regarding the conditions of the competition. The Department are now pressing the Civil Service Commission to hold a competition as soon as possible. Until I have a definite reply from the Commission I will not be able to give a definite answer on this.

(Dublin Central): Could the Minister say whether any staff were recruited in 1975 and 1976 due to this expansion?

The staff of the section was last increased in 1974. As the Deputy is aware, there have been restraints throughout the civil service on the recruitment of additional staff during that period as a result of the repercussions of the world economic crisis but we are anxious now to proceed with this competition and with recruitment.

13.