asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when applicants on the waiting list for telephones in the Lucan area of Dublin will be facilitated.
38.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers (Resumed). - Telephone Service.
37.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the number of applicants on the waiting list for telephones in the Lucan area of Dublin.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 37 and 38 together. At the end of June there were 585 applications on hands in the Lucan exchange area. There is a shortage of equipment in the exchange serving the area. Additional equipment, which is being installed, is expected to be in service in about two months' time. A substantial amount of cabling work, which is necessary mainly to serve the new housing estates in the area, is in hand. Seventy of the orders on hand will have attention over the next few weeks and about 150 further cases will be dealt with progressively over the next six months. It is expected that most of the remaining applicants will be quoted terms before the end of the current financial year.
Is the Minister aware that existing subscribers are having considerable difficulty with the existing service? Will the Minister ensure that some steps will be taken to improve the service for them?
I note the Deputy's remarks and if he will furnish me with details of complaints in the area, I shall do my best to have the situation remedied.
Could the Minister say how many more lines is it possible to connect in the Lucan area when this backlog has been taken up? Numbers of people in the Lucan area are not applying for phones because they realise there is such a backlog. As soon as the equipment the Minister mentions is supplied, I can see a flood of applications for Lucan.
There is a very considerable backlog as residents probably know. There are applications still outstanding from 1971, not many. A 600 line extension which is being installed is expected to be in service in September.
39.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the plans, if any, his Department has for the introduction of a telephone service in the Black Valley near the Gap of Dunloe, Killarney, County Kerry.
There are no plans at present to provide a telephone service in the Black Valley. As my predecessor stated when giving a similar reply to a Parliamentary question by the Deputy on 19th May 1971, the cost would be extremely high.
Is the Minister aware that there was a statement in a local newspaper from which it could be clearly inferred that the telephone service for Black Valley had been sanctioned?
I have seen the quotation from the newspaper, The Kerryman for June 9th, 1973. The information that a telephone was to be provided in the Black Valley did not issue from my Department. I know no more about it.
Does the Minister propose to issue any statement contradicting what was stated in the local newspaper?
It has not been the practice of the Department to correct any of the rather numerous misleading statements which appear from time to time but I am glad of the opportunity of clearing up the matter and of pointing out that this information did not emanate from my Department and is, unfortunately, unfounded. I sympathise with the residents. Provision of these facilities at a cost of about £300 per household with the precedent that would set for uneconomic installations elsewhere would, I fear, deter any Minister in present circumstances from providing such service.
Further arising——
The Deputy has had a fair number of supplementaries.
Is the Minister aware of any recent advances in telephonic communication which would help the people in the valley?
My Department keep in touch with all developments that can be of help but there are no developments which at present would enable us to bring a telephone service to the people of the valley without inordinate cost. If such a technological breakthrough occurs, we would take advantage of it.
Accepting that the cost per house may be as high as the £300 which the Minister has mentioned to bring the service into the Black Valley, would he not consider, because of the remoteness of the area, that the creation of precedent should not be a barrier in this type of case and that it is well worth considering that the social need for this service not only in this area——
The question refers to the Black Valley area near the Gap of Dunloe, County Kerry. I cannot allow the Deputy to expand on that.
I did not expand on it beyond asking in relation to the expansion already made in the reply which was that it would set a precedent——
The Chair takes the view that the Deputy is expanding a question which is a local one.
Let us then go back to the valley.
We cannot, on this occasion. This is Question Time. I am anxious that the Deputy should relate his supplementary to the specific question on the Order Paper.
If the Chair allows me, that is exactly what I propose to do. I am asking the Minister to ignore the precedent it might set for other parts of the country and to consider fully the social need this service would fulfil. Is he sufficiently alive to this need? And is he not convinced that at a cost of £300——
This is a long question.
If the Chair wishes, I shall start again and try to shorten it.
The Deputy may not flout the Chair in that manner. He is well aware that supplementary questions must be brief and relevant.
I submit the supplementary is most relevant and——
The Chair will decide that.
——as to its brevity the questioner must do his best to ensure this to the best of his ability, which is what I am endeavouring to do.
The Deputy has already utilised a good deal of time on the subject.
I quite appreciate that but I still want to know if the Minister will be good enough to consider whether or not, in view of the social need that would be fulfilled, the cost of £300 per house in the Black Valley would not be money well spent and to hell with the precedent. Let us have them in other such remote areas.
I do not think the Deputy really means "to hell with the precedent"; he means "Set the precedent" because he thinks it could be beneficial to his constituency which is fair enough from his point of view, but we are dealing with the allocation of scarce resources and I could not justify provision of these facilities at this cost either in the Black Valley or other parts of the country. We hope technological developments will make this kind of development possible at less than prohibitive cost but I fear the present cost is prohibitive. I regret that for the sake of those concerned.
Would the Minister not consider that there is a parallel in the Department of Local Government where £300 and upwards per house is regarded as normal for the purpose of supplying water where it is very much needed as telephones are very much needed in this case?
Water is a necessity of life. A telephone is probably beginning to approximate to a necessity of life but is not yet as necessary to us as water.
A final supplementary from Deputy Collins.
Would the Minister be good enough to direct the attention of his staff to an article which appeared recently in an American magazine giving great publicity to new technical developments there which would clearly indicate that the equipment required to provide a telephone service in areas such as Black Valley would cost only about £1,200? If the Minister agrees, I could forward a copy of this to him.
I thank the Deputy and I would certainly very carefully consider anything he provided on those lines.
40.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will consider erecting a telephone kiosk at the entrance to Griffin Park on the Navan Road at Trim, County Meath.
Not at present. This area is considered to be reasonably well served by the telephone kiosk at Market Square about a quarter of a mile away.
I will, however, have the question reviewed if there is further significant development in the general area.
I realise the Minister's Department have turned down this application at least twice already but people feel that having to travel a quarter mile to the centre of the town——
The Chair is awaiting a question from the Deputy who is making a speech.
Is the Minister aware that this is a built-up area and that the two telephones in the housing scheme are constantly being sought to provide a service for the area?
It is much easier to run down to either of those houses than to go to Market Square. In view of that, would the Minister consider erecting a kiosk?
I can only say, for the Deputy's benefit, that the situation is being kept under constant and quite sympathetic review. We do not rule out for the future, although I cannot make a promise on it, the provision of a telephone kiosk there.
Is the Minister aware when this is likely to be reviewed again?
It is possible that an additional kiosk in Trim would be justified in 1974 or 1975. The claim of Griffin Park would be considered in that connection. That is all I can tell the Deputy.
41.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when the telephone connections at 17 and 33, Kilgarron Park, Enniskerry, County Wicklow will be completed.
Telephone service was provided at No. 33 on 10th July. It is hoped to provide the telephone at No. 17 within the next week.
I appreciate the Minister's reply. Would the Minister have in his brief details of the length of time which elapsed between the erection of an external connection on the gable of the house and the time taken to bring it inside the house?
I have no data on that. I will communicate with the Deputy.
42.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when he expects that STD facilities will be extended to Clones, County Monaghan.
Clones was not included in the automatisation programmes drawn up in May, 1971 and it will, therefore, be a considerable time before these facilities can be provided for it. Clones will be included in the list of exchanges proposed for conversion to automatic in the period to be covered by the Telephone Capital Bill which I shall be introducing in the autumn. I expect that the facilities in question will be provided in about four years' time.
43.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the provision he has made or intends to make to extend automatic telephone facilities in County Clare.
There are 35 exchanges in County Clare. Twelve of these have already been converted to automatic working. It is expected that Ennistymon Kilkee, Kilrush, Lahinch, Lisdoonvarna, Miltown Malbay and Scarriff will be converted to automatic working in four to five years time. I regret that at this stage a reliable forecast cannot be given for the conversion of the remaining 16 manual exchanges in the county.
44.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the number of party lines in operation; and if he has any plans to offer any such lines to applicants for telephones in order to ease the congestion built up in recent times.
There are 280 party lines in operation. I have no present plans of the kind mentioned by the Deputy. They would not, I am advised, be likely to ease congestion. Efforts were, I understand made to promote party line service in the 1950s in order to relieve shortages of lineplant but the results were not worthwhile.
45.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the categories of telephone applicants who get priority rating for new telephone installation; and if he has any plans to review this list.
The categories are broadly as follows:—
Members of the Oireachtas and Diplomats; Public services including central and local authorities; Persons engaged in health services including hospitals, doctors and district nurses; Clergymen engaged on parochial duties; Industrial, commercial and other undertakings providing a significant amount of employment; Businesses and professions having particular need for telephone service, for example, travel agencies, ladies hairdressers, registered hotel and guest houses, solicitors, full-time journalists; National Unions and Associations; existing subscribers moving to new premises; other applications in which really exceptional need can be shown for example on health or distress grounds.
The list is kept under review but I have no present plans to change it.
I have had the experience in Monaghan of a man, with a considerable undertaking in agricultural contracting business, finding it very hard to get a telephone. Could he be classified as a priority case because he is providing an extensive service for farmers?
That case could fall under the category of businesses and professions having particular need for telephone services and I shall be glad to consider any representations which the Deputy may make in a particular instance although I cannot promise anything.
I will send details of this particular case to the Minister.