asked the Minister for Labour the conditions which must be satisfied by widows seeking employment as Government cleaners.

9.

asked the Minister for Labour if he is aware that a widow (name supplied) in Dublin was rejected by the National Manpower Service for a position as a cleaner in a Government Department; and the reason for her rejection.

With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 8 and 9 together.

There is a long standing arrangement under which preference in the filling of posts of cleaner in Government Departments is given to widows with dependants, married women with dependants whose husbands are incapacitated or have left them, and unmarried women with dependants, in that order. It is only when there are not sufficient and suitable applicants available in these categories that widows without dependants are recommended.

The widow in question has not been recommended for a position as a cleaner in a Government Department because there have been sufficient applicants in the categories mentioned and she has no dependants. There was no question of her rejection in the ordinary sense of that word.

On a point of order, I put down a question to the Minister for Labour asking him to make a statement on his talks with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the FUE. I found that the question was transferred by his Department to the Minister for Economic Planning and Development.

This is quite a common thing. The Chair has no function in the matter.

I want an explanation about why it was transferred in view of the fact that the Minister had thoughts on the matter. I am asking him to tell us his thoughts.

I am sorry, Deputy, you cannot raise it here at Question Time. You may get an opportunity elsewhere some other time but it is completely out of order to raise it now.

Is it not a precedent for one Minister to transfer a question to another Minister regarding talks which he had?

The transfer of questions from one Minister to another is quite a common practice. The Chair is just notified.

Has it ever happened in the past that a question in relation to talks by one Minister was transferred to another Minister to account for them?

It is not my function to go into it here now.

Could you study the precedents and let me know if this is a precedent?

I will look at what the Deputy is saying.