asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the reason for the delay in providing telephone service for applicants in the village of Gneeveguilla, County Kerry; and when service will be provided.
Written Answers. - Telephone Service.
131.
The two applicants in the village of Gneeveguilla have accepted terms which were quoted recently and service will be provided as soon as possible. My Department was not in a position to attend to the applications earlier because of the volume of other urgent engineering work on hands.
132.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the reason for the long delay in dealing with an application for a telephone from a firearms dealer and business man in County Cork (name supplied).
The reason is pressure of other urgent engineering work in the area.
133.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he is aware that 250 telephone subscribers in County Laois were without service recently and if he will state the reason for this and ensure that such occurrences are not frequent.
Service between Portlaoise and a number of exchanges in County Laois was interrupted by a cable fault between Mountmellick and Portlaoise on 23rd November last and between Abbeyleix and Portlaoise on 24th November last. Local calling between subscribers at the exchanges concerned was not affected. Repairs in each case were completed on the day the faults occurred.
Occasional faults in underground cables are unavoidable. The precise cause or causes of the two faults in question have not yet been definitely determined.
134.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when a decision was originally taken to convert Summerhill, County Meath, telephone exchange to automatic working; when it was then intended to convert the exchange; if there has been any delay; if he will account for such a delay; and if he will indicate when it is now intended to convert the exchange.
Summerhill was included in a draft programme prepared in 1964 for the conversion of 350 exchanges and arrangements were put in hands to acquire sites and erect the necessary buildings. The time scale for converting the individual exchanges was not worked out at that time. For various reasons including restrictions on capital this programme had to be drastically reduced and the revised programme approved in March, 1966, did not include Summerhill. Summerhill is being included in a conversion programme now being compiled and it is hoped to introduce automatic service there in two to three years.
135.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs whether he will have a special examination made of public telephone kiosks in Dublin to determine if they are in working order; whether he is aware that a large number are out of order; and whether, in view of certain emergency conditions, he will give immediate attention to any repairs.
A large proportion of telephone kiosks in Dublin are found to be out of order daily mostly as a result of vandalism. Special maintenance attention is given to ensure speedy repairs but in the situation I have outlined there is unfortunately a limit to what can be done.
A number of measures have already been introduced to combat vandalism and consideration is currently being given to further possible measures.
136.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the number of persons awaiting telephones who have been listed for (a) one year, (b) two years, and (c) three years; and when it is anticipated that all arrears will be cleared.
The information required by the Deputy is as follows:—
(a) 4,250 of which 1,800 are being attended to
(b) 1,500 of which 1,000 are being attended to
(c) 13 of which 7 are being attended to
It is expected that most of these arrears will be cleared next year.