asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will give permission to private individuals, commercial firms or firms of printers to print and issue, if they wish, small local telephone directories.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Publication of Private Telephone Directories.
141.
The answer is in the negative. I would refer the Deputy to my reply to him on this matter on 24th May last. The principal objection to permitting the publication of local Telephone Directories is the difficulty of ensuring that they would not be used long after they had become out of date. Post Office policy therefore is to encourage subscribers and callers to use only the official Directory and it would be contrary to that policy to permit the publication of nonofficial Directories.
I would ask the Minister to reconsider this. I asked him to settle this last May. Would the Minister consider it again in view of the small print in the Telephone Directory and the fact that the majority of callers who use the Directory only for local calls often find great difficulty in getting the numbers? Would the Minister consider the matter if local printers make application to him?
I have gone into this question fully and I have examined it. I am of the opinion that there is no justification for a departure from the Post Office policy that has been pursued in the past.