asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the amount of telephone capital expended in each of the four financial years ended the 31st March 1960.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Telephone Capital Expenditure.
55.
The information requested is as follows:—
|
1956-1957 |
£1,627,084 |
|
1957-1958 |
£1,206,996 |
|
1958-1959 |
£1,417,887 |
|
1959-1960 |
£1,381,803 |
Is the Minister aware there are now over 8,000 people waiting for telephones and unable to get them?
I am well aware of that.
Does the Minister propose to take any steps to resolve that situation?
I am taking all the action I possibly can to ensure an efficient telephone service for those already connected to the telephone network and, at the same time, taking into the service all the new applicants possible in the circumstances.
Is there not a deplorable comparison between the situation in which the Electricity Supply Board is advertising anxiously to get extra subscribers and the Department of Posts and Telegraphs, supplying an analogous service, is actually refusing people who are clamouring to get service?
The E.S.B. has the service to give. Because of a long timelag in the provision of essential equipment the Post Office is at the moment unable to provide an efficient service. If they add further to the number of telephone subscribers that will have the effect of causing a deterioration in the service in relation to those who are already subscribers.
Does the Minister seriously tell the House now that for some considerable time he will not take anybody on the telephone network?
I am not telling the Deputy or the House that at all. I am telling the Deputy and the House that we will take into the service all the new applicants it is possible to take while, at the same time, giving present subscribers and new subscribers an efficient service. Two years ago, on my first Estimate, and again on my second Estimate, the Deputy pressed me to provide a more efficient service and complained that people in the west could not get a proper service. It was easier, he alleged, to get a call from here to England or America. I am trying to remedy that situation as far as possible and to ensure an efficient service to all subscribers.
Would it not give additional employment?
I am giving additional employment in the provision of a better service.