(Dublin Central) asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will consider granting a rebate of rental charges to subscribers whose telephones were out of order for a considerable length of time during the recent maintenance strike.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Telephone Rental Rebate.
7.
It is standard practice to allow rebates in such circumstances.
(Dublin Central): Do I take it then that subscribers who were without service due to the strike will get a rebate?
That is so if their telephones were out of order for a protracted period, a week or more, or if they suffered intermittant interruptions over such a period.
(Dublin Central): Will this be automatic or will they have to apply?
They normally have to apply but rebates are frequently offered if the Department are aware of the interruption. Persons who have suffered interruption and have not, in fact, applied should apply if they wish to make sure of getting the rebate.
Where the interruption is of three to four weeks duration would the Department actually offer the rebate without the necessity of subscribers having to apply?
The difficulty here is we have no precise information as to the length of time each line is out of service. A substantial proportion of lines reported out of order are found to be working normally when tested. Under the provisions of the Statutory Telephone Regulation, 1939. a subscriber is not entitled to abatement of rental in respect of any interruption of service but the regulations provide that the Minister may remit any sum payable and it has been our policy for many years to be relatively liberal in granting rebates for interrupted or unsatisfactory service.
(Dublin Central): Has the Minister any indication of the length of time some subscribers were without service? My information is that it was anything from six to eight weeks.
The industrial action taken by certain engineering staff resulted in thousands of faults on lines not being attended to for lengthy periods. The great majority of these were in the Greater Dublin 01 area. Reliable figures of the number of lines affected and the duration of the interruption of service are not readily available for a number of reasons, the principal being that the same faults are frequently reported a number of times and numerous fault reports relate to transient or intermittent difficulties. The backlog of faults is still very considerable and the engineer-in-chief estimates it will be some weeks before the position is back to normal.
(Dublin Central): The advice then to those who were without service for five or six weeks is to apply to the Department for a rebate?
Yes.