asked the Minister for Transport and Power if it is proposed to abolish the special charges for ESB services.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - ESB Special Charges.
32.
The answer is "No". The Government reviewed the rural electrification charges in 1968 and arranged with the Electricity Supply Board for considerable reductions in the special service charges which some consumers were required to pay because of the high cost of connecting them. The reductions were quite substantial and represent the maximum reductions practicable at present. Some consumers' special service charges were in fact reduced by 50 per cent or more.
Am I to assume from the Minister's reply that it is still Government policy that those of our citizens who reside in remote areas must pay this additional service charge if they are to avail of our electricity supply? Will the Minister not consider what happens in another field of public activity whereby no matter how remote a farm is from the lime quarries the lime is delivered at the very same price as if the farmer were living in an area contiguous to the quarry?
And his letters are delivered.
Does the Minister consider it fair that citizens living in the more remote areas, who are mainly our poorer citizens, must pay more for this national service than those who are living in populous areas or in rural districts contiguous to urban areas? Is that the policy of the Minister?
The Deputy knows that the subsidies were increased in, I think, 1961.
I want the subsidy wiped out. I have been pleading for that here for 20 years.
There is an additional subsidy, a loss, on the rural power network.
I want the subsidy——
Will the Deputy listen to me?
I am listening to you.
There is a loss on the rural power network of £2 million a year and if the special service charges were abolished the loss would be another £2 million. Further, the people paying special service charges are only paying one-third of the fixed cost or costs of maintaining their service. I think this is a reasonable contribution. Those people who are unable to pay the service charges are, in fact, given a very special grant towards bottled gas installation.
(Cavan): Ten pounds.
The remaining questions will appear on tomorrow's Order Paper.
(Cavan): This is very important, Sir.
I tabled the question and I am having another supplementary. Deputy Fitzpatrick can ask one afterwards if he wants to but I am having another supplementary. Will the Minister not agree that when the Electricity Supply Board was established in 1924 it was set down that all our citizens would benefit equally from the activities of the board, in other words, that electricity would be provided at standard rates irrespective of where in this island one resided? I am particularly worried about this because in no part of Ireland does the special charge affect——
We cannot have a debate on this. The Deputy is debating the question.
Is the Minister not aware that in no part of the country——
That does not make it a questions. The Deputy is still debating the question.
——are the special service charges so harsh and so brutal as in that part of the country which I have the honour to represent—south west Cork? That being so, am I not right to persist in trying to have this charge, which I maintain is unconstitutional, wiped out? We are supposed to cherish all our citizens equally.
The Deputy will get a more suitable opportunity of debating this. It cannot be debated at Question Time.
We are very pleased to have the Taoiseach down there. He is paying about £6 every two months I estimate.
(Interruptions.)
Order.
Will the Minister not agree and will the Taoiseach not remind him of the hardships of his neighbours down in south west Cork? We are very pleased to have the Taoiseach as a neighbour.
Will the Deputy allow business to continue?
(Cavan): A short supplementary, Sir, only a few words. Does the Tánaiste realise that the special terms offered to these people, often £20 or £30 a year of a special rental or a few hundred pounds of a down payment, are, in fact, a refusal of electric light to these people and that it makes them fifth-rate citizens? Would he not do something about it because those are the facts?
My colleague has already given figures in connection with the last ESB Bill. The ESB made at various times predictions of the growth in the number of consumers and in general they have been fairly correct but they did grossly underestimate the number of people who applied for rural electrification service who are in the group who would have to pay higher charges. They underestimated the number by many thousands so, in fact, it does not appear that these higher service charges have prevented people or discouraged people from taking service.
(Interruptions.)
The remaining questions will appear on tomorrow's Order Paper.