public employment

Labour Sanctioned

The Local Government Board approved Limerick County Council’s decision to undertake certain road works by direct labour where contractors had failed to tender. The ruling, reported on 5 January 1900, allowed the Council to place such roads under the County Surveyor and employ labourers without relying upon the customary contracting system. Approval did not introduce direct labour across every county road. It applied to works for which satisfactory private tenders had not been received, giving the newly established local authority a practical means of maintaining routes that might otherwise remain neglected.