asked the Minister for Transport and Power whether the ESB have within the past two years used NDZ fuse units and whether these units are excluded by regulation 2 (b) of the National Wiring Rules Committee.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - National Wiring Rules Committee.
22.
I am informed by the ESB that it has been their practice over a number of years to use a different type, the DZ cartridge type fuse unit, on the consumer's side of the meter. This is in accordance with regulation 2 (b) of the National Wiring Rules Committee. I understand that the NDZ fuseboard is excluded by that regulation.
Would the Minister answer my question? I did not ask if they used DZ fuse units; I asked if they used NDZ fuse units?
That is what I said. They are excluded by that regulation.
The Minister did not say whether they used them. He said two things in the reply if I understand him correctly, one, that they used DZ fuse units and that NDZ fuse units are excluded. What I want to know is have they used NDZ fuse units or not within the past three years.
Not on the consumer's side. There are some remaining internally in their own installations.
Despite the fact that they are excluded by this regulation of the National Wiring Rules Committee?
There was a stock of this particular type of fuse unit prior to the making of the regulation. They are being phased out, as it were.
Wait now. The Minister should state facts; he means they are being used.
I said they were being used internally but not on the consumer's side.
Would the Minister ensure that they are not used when they are excluded by the requirements of this committee? Why are they being used? Why is he allowing them to be used?
It is a fact that they will not be used inside a month or two. There are very few of them remaining internally. They are excluded by the regulation and have not been used so far as the consumer is concerned since the making of the regulations.
Does the Minister not agree that they should not be used at all if the committee excluded them for good reason as unsafe?
What the Deputy is requesting will be a reality very shortly.
The Minister is condoning the use of fuses——
It will be a reality inside a month or two.
Meantime the danger exists.
If the Deputy will listen, what the Deputy requires will be a reality inside a month or two.
And the risks in the meantime do not concern the Minister?
The consumer is totally out of this operation.
I am not concerned with whose life is at stake so long as anybody's life is at stake.
The Deputy is raising a scare about a risk that does not exist at all. Everybody is quite safe.
23.
asked the Minister for Transport and Power by whom the National Wiring Rules Committee were established; their membership; whether they have trade union representation and if not why.
I understand that the founder members of the National Wiring Rules Committee were:—
The Association of Consulting Engineers of Ireland;
the Electrical Contractors Association;
the Association of Electrical Contractors of Ireland and the ESB.
I further understand that this committee no longer function, their work having been taken over by a subcommittee of the Electro-Technical Council of Ireland who were established in 1970 by the Institute for Industrial Research and Standards.
Would the Minister answer the part of my question about trade union representation?
This is not a matter solely for me, my Department or the ESB. The ESB are one of the parties in this council.
Would the Minister answer the question about trade union representation?
The Minister has no function. This is a council on which the ESB are represented along with a number of other interests.
Can the Minister say whether it has a trade union representative or not?
It has not.
Why has it not?
Because this is a council on which the ESB are represented as a party along with a number of other private interest parties and professional organisations.
Have the ESB taken any steps to have trade union representation?
I shall bring that to the notice of the ESB.
Thank you.
24.
asked the Minister for Transport and Power why the National Wiring Rules Committee suspended regulation 2 (b) until February, 1971.
I am informed by the ESB that, following requests from a number of electrical wholesalers the National Wiring Rules Committee, in April, 1970, suspended until February, 1971 provision 2 (b) of the national wiring rules regulations.
The electrical wholesalers had complained that the interim time allowed between publication in March, 1969 and proposed implementation in December, 1969 of the Regulations was insufficient to allow them to prepare for disallowance of the NDZ fuseboard. As a result large quantities of NDZ fuseboards remained in stock at the time of the implementation of the regulations. There was no question of safety involved in the disallowance of this fuseboard—it was purely in the interests of standardisation. That answers the question the Deputy was asking earlier.
There is no question of safety involved?
No.
The Minister is so informed?
I am satisfied that is so.