It is important that the Minister takes this in hand once and for all and intervenes personally so that the people who have been promised promotional opportunities in these rural offices will at least have some recognition for the work they have been doing down the years. When an emergency arose, with the advent of foot and mouth disease, they were verbally promised that if they went back and did their work – which, to their credit, they did – the matter would be settled immediately afterwards. Unfortunately, this was a verbal undertaking – nothing was given in writing – and it was not honoured when the crisis was over. They became absolutely desperate when the favourable recognition and promotional opportunities to which they were entitled were denied to them and they went out on strike. The Minister of State will be aware of the manner in which they were taken off the payroll, namely, by e-mail at 4 p.m. on a Thursday. This is not a good indication of how relations within the Department are being handled.