asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will provide a telephone kiosk at Cloneybrien, Killaloe, County Clare.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Telephone Service.
34.
Provision of kiosks in areas such as Cloneybrien where there is no post office is not envisaged under the extended rural kiosk programme.
35.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he has plans for the erection of a public telephone kiosk at Carrigmahon, Monkstown, County Cork.
Provision of kiosks in areas such as Carrigmahon where there is no post office is not envisaged under the extended rural kiosk programme.
36.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when a public telephone kiosk will be provided in the Larchfield area of Kilkenny city.
The area in question is served by existing kiosks at Upper Patrick Street and the Parade which are used to a moderate extent only.
Provision of an additional kiosk in the general areas is not considered warranted at present. The matter will be reconsidered if demand for the existing facilities shows a significant increase.
37.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the reasons for the delay in providing telephone services to the Youghal and Midleton area, County Cork.
The delay is due to the large volume of urgent engineering work on hands in the exchange areas mentioned by the Deputy arising from the very big increase in the demand for telephone services. About half the orders on hands are currently having attention, and it is hoped that the remainder will have attention within the next 15 months.
38.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when applicants on the waiting list for telephones in the Tallaght area of County Dublin will be supplied with them.
39.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the number of applicants on the waiting list for telephones in the Tallaght, County Dublin area.
I propose with your permission, A Cheann Comhairle, to take Questions Nos. 38 and 39 together.
There are approximately 1,000 orders on hand from the Tallaght area of which 140 are having attention at present. There is a shortage of equipment in the exchanges serving the area. Additional equipment has been installed in recent months and a major new exchange for the area at present in course of installation is due to be opened about 12 months hence. A substantial amount of cabling work is necessary, mainly for the new housing estates in the area. It will be a considerable time before the backlog of waiting orders is cleared but it is expected that the bulk of them will be attended to within 15 months.
In view of the fact that there is a heavy concentration of industry and newly developed industrial estates in the area, many of them waiting for telephone services, will the Minister see that priority is given to this particular aspect? Development in this area is being impeded for some time because of lack of telephone services.
I appreciate the Deputy's point and my Department are trying to cope with these arrears. This is a problem to which we have had further occasion to refer but at the moment we are concentrating on clearance of pre-1973 non-priority orders.
The same problem which arises in Tallaght arises also in the two new towns of Blanchardstown and Clondalkin. Will the Minister keep these two new towns in mind?
I cannot allow the Deputy to extend the scope of the question beyond the areas referred to.
I am asking for the Minister's assurance in regard to those new towns.
I take Deputy Burke's point and I certainly will keep it in mind.
40.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when a telephone will be installed for a person (name supplied) at Aughfarrell, Brittas, County Dublin.
Telephone service will be provided in this case within the next two weeks.
41.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when it is proposed to convert all the exchanges in West Galway to automatic working.
42.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when it is proposed to convert the Camus and Rosmuck exchanges, County Galway to automatic working.
43.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when it is proposed to convert the Carna exchange, County Galway to automatic working.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 41, 42 and 43 together.
There are 35 exchanges in West Galway. Seven of these have already been converted to automatic working. It is expected that four others, including Rosmuck, will be converted by the end of this year and another early next year. There is no exchange at Camus: the area is served by Rosmuck exchange. I regret that at this stage a reliable forecast cannot be given for the conversion of the remaining 23 manual exchanges including Carna in West Galway.
44.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the extent to which the present telephonist staff in Clonmel telephone exchange, County Tipperary will be affected when the exchange becomes automatic.
It is expected that the staffing of Clonmel manual exchange will be reduced to somewhat over half its present strength when the automatic exchange is opened. The majority of those displaced are permanent staff who will be transferred to other offices. The remaining operator services at Clonmel will gradually be phased out over a number of years as the other manual exchanges in the area are converted to automatic working.
45.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the number of telephones installed in each of the years 1970, 1971 and 1972.
The number of telephone exchange lines installed in each of the years mentioned was as follows:— 1970, 23,700; 1971, 20,000; 1972, 25,600.