Eligibility for Government cleaner posts
The Minister said cleaner posts are prioritised for women with dependants and that widows without dependants are considered only when suitable applicants in higher-priority categories are unavailable; the widow was not recommended.
asked the Minister for Labour the conditions which must be satisfied by widows seeking employment as Government cleaners.
9.
Comment on this
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.
Comment on this
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.