I am raising this matter not for the purpose of embarrassing the Minister but to bring to his attention the difficulties subscribers encounter in their efforts to get service from their telephone exchanges. It seems that the volume of telephone traffic has grown to such a considerable extent that the equipment now available and which is being operated by a very efficient staff is not adequate to provide the necessary service. I refer particularly to the fact that thousands of subscribers every day, when they find it necessary to dial O for the purpose of getting through to the Central Telephone Exchange, for one reason or another have to wait quite a considerable time. Some subscribers have got to wait half an hour for an answer to dial O. It is quite a common thing apparently at the moment for these subscribers to be required to wait five, ten or 15 minutes for dial 0 to be answered.
This is a very sudden change. It did not happen six months or 12 months ago; it is only in recent months or weeks that this situation developed. There are possible reasons for it. One example would be that the telephone subscriber who has five lines or ten lines and who has been finding it difficult to get an answer on one line—he might hold on for five or ten minutes to get the answer on one line—decides to dial 0 on four or five of those lines. You then have four or five lines from the one subscriber dialling to the telephone exchange. You have this happening in several places where there is more than one telephone line.
In addition to that, you have the thousands of subscribers who have only the one telephone on which to dial O trying to contact the Central Telephone Exchange. I understand, of course, that there is an automatic system inside, which receives and holds all these calls in rotation, but let us take the case of a man with only one telephone dialling O. He is competing against a man who has three, four or ten lines dialling at the same time—two persons trying to get into the Central Telephone Exchange. Naturally, the man with several lines has the better chance. In any case, if he is getting on a queue inside on the telephone board he is certainly keeping back the persons who have only one telephone on which to dial 0 and who are trying to get a very essential service possibly.
All this arises from the fact that apparently the volume of traffic on the telephone lines has increased considerably. There are several reasons for that. First of all, the lines connected with Dublin to our various towns and cities have been made automatic. The result is that a call from Cork to Dublin can be obtained in a matter of seconds. Other lines to Dublin are in the same position. The result is that they carry a great volume of traffic right into the city. Then around Dublin city and county there are several exchanges which have gone automatic.
The charge has been reduced considerably. Possibly that has encouraged people to make more extensive use of the telephone service. With all these extra exchanges becoming automatic, the subscriber in many of these areas can just walk to the telephone and dial a number when previously it had to go through the local telephone exchange. All that has created a queue through the Central Telephone Exchange.
Even if we double the number of the staff in the Central Telephone Exchange it would not bring relief because it is the equipment that is really necessary to cope with the extra volume of traffic and not extra personnel. I am bringing this matter to the Minister's notice because I had complaints, for instance, from doctors who were trying to call ambulances. There again they had to hold on possibly for five, ten or 15 minutes. The same situation would arise in connection with persons seriously injured on the roads or where people are very ill at home trying to call a doctor. They do not get the necessary reply having dialled O.
Likewise in regard to the fire brigade. Dialling 999 is apparently the only method that is very prompt at the present time. I was speaking to a doctor recently who decided to dial 999 in the hope that, having got through, he could make the urgent call which he had failed to get in the ordinary way by dialling O.
A vast amount of capital has already been provided by the State for the improvement of our telephone services. I think we can boast that they are very excellent services but we have to face the fact that we now have to deal with a huge volume of traffic across the telephone lines, and that we have to provide more equipment and possibly more modern equipment, to ensure that, having put up this excellent network all over the country, the subscribers will be able to get a better service. I am not particularly speaking about private interests, domestic interests, or business interests. I am referring to subscribers in general because, as I say, the heavy volume of traffic across these lines is causing a good deal of loss and inconvenience to people who have become accustomed to relying upon a prompt telephone service.
I do not wish to say much more on this matter because I am sure the Minister will be able to indicate whether a solution can be provided but I noticed in the last few days and the last few weeks that the position is growing worse. Apparently, the more anxious people are to get in contact with the Central Telephone Exchange and dial O the more they are inventing new methods of putting pressure on to the Central Telephone Exchange, which is making the position worse for themselves and more difficult for the staff who are trying to cope with this extra traffic.
I believe that down the country this situation does not confront subscribers and in a general way they are well satisfied with the system provided. There may be an exchange in the country which does not give as efficient a service as it could but in a general way telephone subscribers seem to be getting very good value for the money which they have provided through the State and from their own contributions as subscribers but the position in Dublin city is becoming acute and for that reason I should like to know from the Minister whether it will be possible to make some new arrangement on the existing equipment or to obtain as soon as possible some extra equipment which will relieve the situation which is growing so difficult with the increasing volume of traffic.
