asked the Minister for Defence whether a decision has been taken on the proposal to provide electrical circuits and sockets for power purposes in married quarters; and, if so, and the decision is favourable to the proposal, when the work will commence and be completed.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Electricity Supply to Army Barracks.
52.
Consideration of this proposal has not yet been completed.
Would the Minister give some coherent, comprehensive reason to this House as to what the difficulty is in making available an electricity flow to soldiers' wives so that these unfortunate wives can use a washing machine or an electric iron?
There are a number of difficulties. There are 881 such quarters. In certain cases the mains serving the married quarters are not capable of supplying the load required. All these matters have to be looked into.
The Minister has been looking into these now for 12 months.
Would the Minister not exercise his good judgement and adopt the principle of giving it to them as soon as possible?
I shall not make any decision until I have all the facts.
The credit squeeze is getting worse and worse. If a woman happens to be a soldier's wife, she cannot use an iron because the Minister cannot put in a plug.