asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he is aware of the difficulty and inconvenience experienced by telephone subscribers in the Walkinstown/Green-hills/Perrystown areas, Dublin, due to the constant breakdown of the telephone system; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Telephone Service.
45.
Underground telephone cables in the area have been damaged on a number of occasions recently. Service on the lines affected was restored as quickly as possible.
Is the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs away?
In reply to Deputies who are raising questions like this they are well aware that on many occasions other Ministers have answered.
Yes, within reason. There are only two Ministers present now.
I think the reason the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs is not here is that he finds answering questions in relation to kiosks——
One of the Deputy's colleagues wishes to ask a supplementary question.
I do not fully accept the reply to this question. I think a greater effort will have to be made to provide a better telephone service. I am quite certain the Minister for Education is well aware of the situation in this area. I ask him to appeal to the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs to try and provide a decent telephone service in the area.
That is a separate question.
Mr. R. Burke
The Deputy is one of the more courteous Deputies in the House. If he gives me details of any telephone numbers, to his knowledge, which have been interrupted, I will have further inquiries made.
46.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will arrange for the provision of a telephone kiosk at Willington Estate, Templeogue, Dublin as requested by the residents of this estate.
Mr. R. Burke
It is planned to provide a further kiosk this year to serve the area in question.
47.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the number of telephone kiosks provided in County Dublin during the past 12 months.
Mr. R. Burke
Twenty-one kiosks were provided in County Dublin during the year ended 31st March, 1975.
48.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs why a telephone is not being installed for a person (name supplied) in County Meath who first applied two years ago, in view of the fact that a telephone is being installed for another person nearby who could only have applied for it within the last year.
Mr. R. Burke
A telephone was not installed for the first-named person as this involved abnormal linework. The telephone now being installed was authorised on priority grounds. Installation of this line will reduce the work necessary to provide service for the first-named person and it will be offered within the next few weeks.
I presume it was only because I put down the question that he got it. A millionaire bought this farm last September and he was given priority because he was a millionaire.
The Deputy is making a statement.
49.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when a telephone will be provided for a person (name supplied) in County Dublin.
Mr. R. Burke
By the end of next month.
50.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will give an outline of the programme, with approximate dates, for the extension of the automatic telephone system in County Donegal.
Mr. R. Burke
Current programmes provide for the conversion of 29 telephone exchanges in County Donegal including all the larger ones. It is hoped to open the Letterkenny automatic exchange and area switching centre in three to four years and to convert 25 other exchanges which will be served by this switching centre soon afterwards. Another automatic switching centre will be required in Donegal town. It is hoped to provide it and to convert Donegal town and two exchanges in the area in four to five years. It is not possible at this stage to forecast when the remaining 38 manual exchanges will be converted to automatic working.
Would the Minister agree that it is ludicrous, with the service we have to suffer, to have to wait four or five years before there is any improvement in spite of all the money that has been taken out of the people's pockets for postal services?
Mr. R. Burke
I agree with the Deputy that the moneys provided in the Telephone Capital Act, 1973 will go a long way towards rectifying the backlog of problems which built up under previous Administrations.
People are being driven to insanity by the telephone service.