The public have very short memories and many Deputies seem to suffer from the same complaint. About ten years ago, if you wanted to telephone somebody outside my constituency, you had to lift the receiver, put it to your ear, sit down and smoke a cigarette while you sat and said: "Hallo, hallo, hallo". That was about a decade ago. I look back and consider that we have made immense improvements since then. We have jumped about a half century in terms of time.
Now in ordinary circumstances, one can get a Dublin number in a matter of minutes. However, I do not think the Minister and his Department are hearkening sufficiently to the law of supply and demand. We are told by the Minister that there are 13,000 applicants still clamouring for telephones. If that number were not waiting now, you would still have 13,000 ready and willing to take the service if they felt they could get it in a reasonable time.
For that reason I am sorry the Minister finds it necessary to assume an apologetic mien when he comes in here each year to explain which services are responsible for increases in the Estimate. An expanding market exists for the use of the telephone and I submit there is every excuse for borrowing money to improve an amenity which, though not fully enjoyed by the present population, will be used by posterity. There is every good reason, therefore, why posterity should be asked to pay part of the improvement cost by way of loan repayments.
Increases in the Estimate caused by such improvements are not profligate. They are increases that every citizen should welcome. Most of the increases the Minister has asked for are to pay for additional engineering staffs, for stores, contract work and for additional operating staff. All these matters, particularly in relation to engineering and operating staffs, will mean more work for young people leaving universities and technical schools. That is a very good thing. A lot of the stores will come from Irish factories and a lot of the contract work will be done by Irish firms, meaning more work at home for Irish people. All this will go to bring about a modernisation of our system of communication.
Though we have improved to that extent during the past decade, we are rapidly becoming old-fashioned again because of lack of drive, because the Department have not kept up with the needs of the times, and I would appeal to the Minister to do much more from this point of view during the next ten years. I have said there have been improvements in the telephone system generally in the past decade. That does not mean that I, in my personal capacity or as Deputy for my constituency, am 100 per cent satisfied with the system we now have.
The direct dialling system between Cork and outside areas is certainly an improvement on what we had in the old days, but it is not 90 per cent or, in my belief and in the belief of many of the people by whom I have been sent here, even 80 per cent efficient. You can dial 01 for a Dublin number and you can get a subscriber anywhere between the house next door and Malin Head. You are lucky if you get anywhere sometimes. Yesterday I dialled 01 and got nothing at all. I did not get nothing just once; I got it 10 or 12 times and had to dial the very courteous young lady at the other end and tell her that I got nothing and that I had dialled 01 with the intention of getting something.
That is very wrong. I am not raising this as a personal protest only. A number of people who are paying a lot of money for the service and who will be paying a lot more money in the coming years, are having the same frustrating experience. It is bad enough to get your next door neighbour's house when you dial 01—that might be interesting sometimes—but when you get nothing it is a very bad business.
As I am on that, I would sincerely ask the Minister to investigate the occurrence, which seems to be very prevalent at least in Cork city, that when you dial one number, due to some mechanical fault, you break into a private conversation between two other people. In Dublin, that must be embarrassing enough, but in Cork, where so many know so many others, it can be more than embarrassing. On several occasions I have broken into a private conversation. I have known the two parties at the other end and I could if I wished, and had the time, have listened to these private conversations. It is wrong that when a person takes the telephone he should be put in the position, possibly, of inviting anybody else attached to the telephone system to come into his drawing room and listen to a private conversation. It is an important thing and I would ask the Minister to request those in charge of that part of the system in Cork to investigate it.
I want to refer to a question I asked the Minister on the 30th April last about a very serious matter. It is a local question, but it is undoubtedly of national importance and application. It referred to the dialling of 999 in emergencies. This was a case of dialling 999 while a house was on fire in which a woman lost her life. It is questionable whether she would have lost her life had the 999 system worked in Cork city on the night in question.
The Minister's answer did not give satisfaction to me or to the people of Cork. All he said was that before and after the crucial moment the 999 system worked. But during the crucial moment when six different people, including newspaper men, were trying to dial 999 it did not work. The Minister gave no explanation. He said it might have been due to a mechanical fault. The incident occurred around midnight. He said a mechanical fault was discovered at 2 a.m. and rectified quickly. In a half-hearted way he did his best to exculpate the staff. He said there was no question of failure to answer immediately any 999 signals received in the exchange.
In a serious matter like this I would expect the Minister categorically to assure the House that no element of human error or negligence was involved. I would expect him to say that a most searching inquiry would be made. It is not sufficient that this matter should be investigated by a coroner at an inquest. It is a matter of such importance nationally that the Minister should investigate it very fully and not dismiss it in the rather cavalier manner he showed when answering my question. In his reply he said there was a number of calls on the 999 system that night before the crucial call was put through. There were calls at 9.21 p.m., 8.10 p.m., 11.30 p.m. and 11.36 p.m. Then there was the time during which the abortive call came.
The Minister went on to refer to bogus calls. The feeling was in Cork that maybe in the Cork exchange and in other exchanges throughout the country they are not inclined to reply to these 999 calls because there are so many bogus calls. We all deprecate bogus calls. It is very hard to look into the mind of a person who would engage in that sort of pastime. I would seriously suggest to the Minister that he have a chat with his friend, the Minister for Justice, and suggest that police patrols should pay more attention to telephone kiosks, from which most of these calls emanate. I have seen three or four children packed into a kiosk. I have remonstrated with them. They were obviously there for the purpose of putting through some sort of bogus call.
The Minister for Justice could well ask the gardaí to pay more attention to telephone kiosks in cities and towns. I have never seen a garda in the vicinity of a telephone kiosk, although they could well be there. Not alone are bogus calls made on 999 but a very objectionable habit has grown up in Cork and Dublin of people using the phone to make immoral, vulgar, upsetting or threatening remarks to lone women and old persons. A lot of that could be avoided if the gardaí showed more activity round kiosks.
I do not intend to deal further with the question of the increased charges the Minister in levying on the public. Enough has been said by my colleagues on that matter. I shall not go further beyond endorsing most of what was said from these benches and from the Labour benches.
I would ask the Minister to ensure that the Department keep pace with the growth of housing estates in cities, both from the point of view of providing kiosks and from the point of view of providing better postal facilities. The Post Office seem to overlook the growth of housing estates in the suburbs of Cork. The same number of postmen are engaged in the same areas, although the number of houses there has doubled. It becomes patent to everybody that they are left for years and years.
I should like to add my voice to those who have spoken highly of Telefís Éireann. There is no need for me to reiterate—Deputy Dillon has already done so—the immense importance of Telefís Éireann and Radio Éireann and the part they have to play in both the cultural and intellectual life of the country. Telefís Éireann is teacher, journalist, leader writer and entertainer all rolled into one. For that reason I have always regretted that this House has not kept some control over Telefís Éireann.
The Minister said in his opening remarks on broadcasting that he does not interfere in programme matters. I would much prefer if he were in a position to do so, but I know that by statute he is not. However, any time he gets an inquiry from a Deputy he should try to elicit the information and give a reply in this House. It is important that those who have the immense power in their hands, given to them by the people through this House, should be given the benefit of the criticism levelled at them here by way of Parliamentary question. I would ask the Minister not to use the device of saying he has no function in the matter. At least, he can forward these criticisms to Telefís Éireann and ask them to give an answer. He can still add his own comments if he feels strongly about the matter.
I am not suggesting that the programmes on Telefís Éireann or Radio Éireann are objectionable. They are not. There have been occasions when I felt like phoning the programme editor myself about something. But I have never done it, and the sun has never gone down on my anger. Therefore, it must have never been very grave. Generally speaking the standard of the programmes is good, too good sometimes for the man with a growing family. Now, while this may sound farcical, I seriously suggest to the Minister that he might suggest to Telefís Éireann that there should be some sort of good light programme about 8.30 p.m. to cater for the children, with a reminder at the end of the programme that they should go to bed. From the point of view of getting children to bed, Telefís Éireann is becoming quite a problem. Most of us who have children know the persuasive powers they have when they want to stay up longer at night. Previously it was difficult for them to find an excuse but now there is always the excuse to stay up an extra ten minutes, or a quarter of an hour, or, indeed, an hour. If Telefís Éireann were to introduce some spurious finality into its system at night, it would be of tremendous benefit.
Whilst, on occasion, one might find something about which to protest in regard to programmes, the advent of Telefís Éireann has been, I think, of immense significance, importance and usefulness to the country. The political programmes have been very useful. They have in many ways introduced a new interest in politics. I must respectfully now dissent from the views expressed by Deputy Dillon that the voices in the programme "Strictly Politics" are not a good idea. I like the voices very much, particularly the voice that mimics the Minister for Transport and Power. That always amuses me greatly. I think the voices introduce a note of diversity and make it easier to listen to the programme.
I should like to compliment Telefís Éireann on the programme "Rebellion" and I suggest that programme should be revived. It dealt with the period 1916 to 1922 or 1923. It was inspiring. If it were revived even once more, it would be beneficial where the younger generations are concerned. It should be revived, of course, at a time when they are available to look and listen. There is one plea I would make. Deputy Dillon referred to the matter, too. It is the new rash of commercials to which we have to listen. No matter how beautiful the lady who uses the shampoo may be, when she comes in every threequarters of an hour in an otherwise interesting programme, one is inclined to get fed up. Neither are we interested in the fellow who smokes a particular cigarette, nor in the Educational Building Society.
There are no two ways about it. I am quite certain the ordinary TV watcher would be quite ready to pay an extra £1 a year in order to banish some of these commercials from the programme. Advertising on TV is the sort of advertising that cannot be got anywhere else. In other words, the advertising market is a restricted one, and economics is the science of scarcity. Therefore, if Telefís had fewer commercials, they could charge more for them. If the Authority showed the same consideration as the Minister has done in relation to increasing the cost of the services supplied by his Department, there would very quickly be a fall in advertising on Telefís. The Minister will mulct those who use telephones, the little girl sending a Valentine to her boy friend, the man who sends a telegram of sympathy to someone bereaved, or a telegram of congratulation to someone who is being married. Let Telefís charge in the same way for advertising and thereby ensure we will have less of them. Obviously advertisers think it is worth the money.
We live in an age of propaganda and the sooner we realise it the better. Nearly everything that emanates from a news agency has a value of some kind. I believe we should use TV unashamedly to impress on our people the importance of Christian principles. We should make quite sure we keep out the kind of vulgarity which is the pseudo-sophistication people look for nowadays in entertainment. They have had their palates whetted for it by nearly every second film. I hope and trust that Telefís Éireann will not at any time fall for that type of entertainment. Let us avoid that sort of sophistication. I do not object to sophistication but sophistication nowadays seems to deteriorate into vulgarity. I hope that will not happen on Telefís Éireann.
Deputy Dillon asked the Minister to keep his eye on the programmes; he thought that was necessary. I think the House should keep its eye on the programmes. I know we have tied our own hands in this matter but I would suggest that not alone should the Minister keep his eye on Telefís and Radio Éireann but that every Deputy, if he sees something objectionable or hears something questionable, should immediately ask the Minister by way of Parliamentary Question for his views. It is not sufficient that a service of the importance of Telefís and Radio Éireann should be subject to review only once a year; it should be subject to day-to-day review in my opinion. If the Minister receives inquiries he should send them on to the Authority asking for the Authority's views on them.
