asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs what steps are taken when the telephone directory is being compiled to ensure that incorrect numbers do not appear; and whether in the case of errors or omissions being discovered after publication, any deduction in payment is made to the firm responsible for printing.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Telephone Directory Errors.
141.
Departmental officials correct any mistakes which have come to light in entries in the current directory, insert particulars of new and changed entries and delete entries in respect of ceased lines. The amendments, additions and deletions are checked by other departmental officials. The printer prepares proofs from this copy and checks it. The Department then makes a final check of the proofs before the new directory is printed.
As the incidence of errors and omissions in the directory in recent years owing to undetected printers mistakes has been relatively insignificant, no deductions in payments to the contractor in respect of these have been made.
142.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he is aware that a number (details supplied) is incorrectly given in the 1972 telephone directory; and what action he proposes taking to have the error rectified in view of the fact that this number is in constant daily use by members of the public with consequent widespread inconvenience.
I do not accept that the mistake referred to by the Deputy will cause widespread inconvenience. The incorrect number which had also been included in a number of previous issues of the directory remained undetected until the Deputy brought it under notice. Apparently neither the renter of the line nor any member of the public noticed the mistake or if they did notice it they did not regard the error as of sufficient importance to draw attention to it. The reason may be that when consulting the directory they look up the main entry for the exchange line in question which contains the correct telephone number.
I am grateful to the Deputy for drawing attention to the mistake.
Steps have been taken to ensure that it will be corrected in future issues of the directory and the staff at the local auto manual exchange have been alerted in case they should receive any inquiries about the number in the meantime.