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APPENDIX 12.CAHILL & CO. LIMITED. Parkgate Printing Works, Dublin 8. GTA/LKD 22nd January 1968. STATIONERY OFFICE DEPOT STOCK PAPER.Controller, Stationery Office, Dublin 4. A Chara, Further to our recent conversations and discussions in connection with above matter, the following points are important in considering the question of Depot Stock used by us over the years for Stationery Office printing. We have in the past used paper from Stationery Office Depot Stock to prepare proofs of urgent Stationery Office work which was eventually printed on paper supplied specifically for such jobs. This has happened through proofs being required urgently and before it was possible to supply us with the paper on which such urgent jobs were printed. In the interest of speed, Depot Stocks were in fact drawn on for paper for proofing purposes of this kind. Without recourse to this procedure delivery deadlines could not have been met. It is common practice for Departments, after first proofs have been supplied, to ask for second and third proofs and, when the occasion requires, to request that the additional proofing be supplied in sets, each set consisting of a considerable number of proofs. Unfortunately, in the circumstances, the paper taken from Depot Stocks for such additional proofing was never recorded or debited to the Stationery Office. There may be an impression that we failed to keep records of Stationery Office Depot Stock usages. This is not so. Records of paper used for the actual printing of a specified number of copies were made and kept for a certain length of time after accounts were furnished, cleared by the Stationery Office, and paid. Because of the physical problem of accommodating records and vouchers of completed work these had to be disposed of some 6/9 months after accounts were paid. It was when we came to checking back over the twelve-year period that detailed records could not be produced. Stationery Office Depot Paper Stocks are under the direct control of our Paper Warehouse Manager. Supplies from the Stationery Office, whether delivered by Stationery Office van or collected by one of our vans, are always accompanied by an advice note. Deliveries accepted by us are always checked against the appropriate advice note. When it is known before 5 p.m. that paper will be required between 5.30 p.m. and 8 o’clock the following day the appropriate amount is issued and the warehouse where the main stock is held remains locked during the night until the paper warehouse manager returns in the morning. In the event of an urgent and special issue, not envisaged at 5 p.m., being required during the night the warehouse manager is called to the factory to make available the paper required. It is only very rarely that this procedure has to be employed. It will be appreciated that Stationery Office paper is invariably machined in its full size and is not trimmed until printing and binding has been completed. It is, therefore, inconceivable that Stationery Office Depot Paper Stock could be removed from our premises without being detected. Every Stationery Office printing job is executed against a distinctive “Stationery Office Work Docket”. The system we operate makes it impossible for typesetting or printing to be done without this Work Docket. Paper required for Stationery Office printing purposes, apart from proofing, is issued by the warehouse manager only on production of the appropriate “Stationery Office Work Docket” by the printing department. The paper is at that stage recorded on the Work Docket which accompanies each printing job through the works until the work has been completed. In early years the demands on Depot Paper Stocks for proofing Parliamentary printing were light and the paper used for proofing items under this Contract was not recorded or debited to the Stationery Office, and this practice has persisted over the years. Because of the nature of the work we do under the Parliamentary Printing Contract and because of a very personal relationship between ourselves and the Government Departments concerned which evolved during a period of something like forty-five years, practices and traditions developed that were not always covered by Contract. These arrangements were usually made at the level of the people involved on both sides in the day to day production problems, and neither the Stationery Office nor our senior management were involved in the details of such practices and developments as long as they did not adversely affect work done under the Parliamentary Printing Contract. An example of the sort of thing that evolved over the years is the proofing arrangements for the Dáil and Seanad Agendas. The Contract states “as many proofs as may be required”. This has grown to 19 in the case of the Dáil Agenda and a minimum of 12 in the case of the Seanad Agenda. Paper used for these excess proofs has never been recorded on “Stationery Office Work Dockets” or debited to the Stationery Office when the accounts for the work were furnished. An examination of Stationery Office Depot Stock Paper used for proofing over a two-year period—January 1965 to December 1966—has shown that the amount of Depot Stock paper used for proofing the Dáil Agendas during that period was 18.17% of the total amount of paper used in the printing of the Dáil Agendas. In the case of the Seanad Agendas the percentage for proofing was 12.8. Urgency and speed of production are the keynotes of most of the Stationery Office work we do. When, as frequently happens, we are asked to “pull out all the stops” and literally work day and night to set and proof an urgent report and the only paper at hand on which to proof it is Depot Stock we have no hesitation about using it in order to provide proofs quickly. One small but illustrative example of this is the Prospectus for the National Loans. This is an urgent and confidential job which we do annually for the Department of Finance and the details of which are dealt with by ourselves and the Department directly without reference to the Stationery Office. Twenty-five sets of proofs were prepared for the 1967 Prospectus at four different stages and, while a special supply of paper was supplied for the actual printing, Depot Stock paper was used for proofing. The amount in this case came to 25 sheets of Quad Cap. 44 lbs. Another current example of this sort of thing is the Income Tax Act which is being printed at the moment. This is a very large Act and, again, although special paper was supplied for actual printing, it was proofed on Depot Stock, 850 sheets of Cream Wove Quad Cap 44 being used. In this event these two lots will be debited to the Stationery Office under our new arrangement, but in previous years these would not have been debited. Other examples that come to mind are the various volumes of the Education Report and the C.I.O. Reports, of which several proofs had to be provided. This sort of thing is a feature of much of the urgent and special Stationery Office work we do and the examples quoted are not at all isolated cases but represent a regular pattern. It is true we were at fault in the past in not returning these usages but, as mentioned earlier, much of the custom and procedure that has developed over 45 years resulted in our staff and some Government Departments taking certain practices for granted and one of these was Depot Stock may legitimately be used for providing proofs of Stationery Office work. The Company solemnly assures the Controller of the Stationery Office and other interested authorities that it has never deliberately or accidentally used Stationery Office Depot Paper Stock for any purpose other than proofing and printing Stationery Office work. The controls we operate are such that we can be certain that Stationery Office paper was never used for commercial print. The qualities of Stationery Office Depot Stock paper would be quite unsuitable for such purposes. Sinne, le meas, CAHILL & CO. LIMITED. (Signed) G. T. Agnew, Director and General Manager. |
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