asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will arrange to have the telephone in Fybagh, Castlemaine, County Kerry, transferred to a kiosk outside the post office as it would then be available to the public at all times.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Telephone Service.
10.
The use made of the call office telephone in the post office is not sufficient to warrant provision of a kiosk at Fybagh.
The telephone concerned is in the post office and is not used because the post office is a business premises. There is a lack of privacy and telephone conversations can be heard. If the telephone was transferred to a kiosk outside the post office it would facilitate people who need to make calls at night.
I am afraid that the case is a fairly clear one. This case is often made where there is a suggestion that a new kiosk be installed. My Department have to decide on the priorities. We have to decide if the kiosk is warranted and the criterion of £300 has been set. The revenue from this telephone falls far below that. It is £58.62 which is much too low. All I can suggest is that a kiosk could be provided at Fybagh under a scheme whereby the local authority enter into an agreement to make good the loss involved in the maintenance of the kiosk. If I get such an undertaking from the local authority, my Department will be happy to provide it.
If the kiosk was provided outside the post office the revenue would be much greater. People do not like using the telephone kiosk inside the post office when there is a lack of privacy. Would the Minister please look into this again?
I will have my Department consider this but I cannot give any guarantee.
This is the answer we get to all questions about telephone kiosks outside post offices. People do not make use of the telephone inside those post offices when their conversations cannot be confidential. They prefer to travel up to two miles to a private house to make a call.
This is not a question.
I am pointing out that this is the type of excuse we get when we ask questions about telephone kiosks outside post offices.
This is a specific question. Question No. 11.
I would like to comment on what Deputy Callanan has said because I appreciate his concern. This policy which my Department is carrying out now is a longestablished one——
Change it.
——which I have considered and which I think is a just way of allocating priorities. I am sorry if sometimes inconvenience is caused, but I cannot provide kiosks absolutely——
Since, according to the Minister for Finance's statement yesterday, a substantial loss has been incurred on the telephone service, it is obvious that the yardstick by which the Minister says he has been operating in regard to the telephone service has not been adhered to.
This is a question concerning a specific telephone kiosk.
In view of that fact, would the Minister not consider that the monopolistic nature of our telephone service carries with it the responsibility to provide a service for all of our people within——
This is a serious deviation from the subject matter of the question.
The deficit on the telephone service and the increase in telephone charges and the related question of telephone development are matters on which I intend to make a full statement in the course of the budget debate. I would only point out here that a main ingredient of that deficit is the very high cost of the capital which has had to be borrowed for the major telephone development schemes which have been going into operation.
11.
Mr. Kitt
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the number of complaints received by his Department concerning the telephone service for each month of 1976; and the total number for the year.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I propose to give the figures sought in a tabular statement which will be circulated with the Official Report.
Following is the statement:
|
Telephone Service Complaints |
|||
|
January |
2,300 |
||
|
February |
3,700 |
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|
March |
4,200 |
||
|
April |
2,700 |
||
|
May |
2,800 |
||
|
June |
3,100 |
||
|
July |
2,900 |
||
|
August |
1,700 |
||
|
September |
3,400 |
||
|
October |
4,200 |
||
|
November |
3,500 |
||
|
December |
3,000 |
||
|
TOTAL |
37,500 |
Mr. Kitt
Would the Minister give the total number for the year?
37,500. As a proportion of total telephone lines, it is not significantly different from what has prevailed over a considerable period.
Mr. Kitt
Do the Department propose to extend automatic dialling in the country and to deal with the very large number of applicants seeking the installation of a telephone?
That is an entirely separate question.
The Deputy is raising another matter.
Would the Minister agree that the number of complaints which he asserts should be looked at in relation to the total number of telephone users is not at all a reflection of the situation as it exists at the moment but is rather a result of the system being so bad that people just do not complain? They have enough bother trying to get a call without complaining about it.
I have sympathy with the Deputy's observations, but the remedy for that is sustained, massive investment in the service. The service is suffering from the lack of that in the past years, from systematic undernourishment up to the Telephone Capital Act which was passed early in the lifetime of this Dáil.
(Dublin Central): Would the Minister agree that although, according to the Minister's financial statement yesterday, there was a huge increase in capital investment by the State, there was a reduction in telephone communication traffic? How does he reconcile those factors?
There was a certain reduction in the traffic. We are wandering rather far from the subject of this question, but I am prepared to wander a little while with the Deputy. There was a decrease in the volume of traffic for a certain time due to the recession, but, as the Minister for Finance made clear in a part of his speech that the Deputy passes over, the volume of traffic has subsequently picked up in the second half of 1976 due to the falling off of the recession.
(Dublin Central): Would the Minister not agree that the fall in telephone communication traffic is due to the deplorable service and the high charges?
We are getting away from this question.
I have made quite clear the effort my Department are making to improve the service and I am afraid that, as I shall establish in my statement in the course of the budget debate, high charges and massive investment are linked.
(Interruptions.)
Order. I have called Deputy Allen to ask a final supplementary.
The Minister has admitted there were 37,000 complaints.
37,500.
Let us say 38,000. In view of the Minister for Finance's statement yesterday that telephone calls will now be increased to 5p, would the Minister ensure that the penny slot——
This is not in order.
12.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the date on which it is proposed to install a telephone kiosk for Newtowncashel, County Longford.
Longford County Council offered to guarantee a kiosk at Newtowncashel against loss. A site has been selected in consultation with the council and a draft agreement covering the guarantee has been sent to them for approval. The kiosk will be erected within about a month of completion of the agreement.
I am very glad to hear from the Minister that this kiosk will be erected within a month and I would like to put on record that I have only been seven years making representations to many Ministers about this kiosk. Let me say also that prior to the summer recess——
This is Question Time.
I am sorry, but I do not take up much time at Question Time. I brought ten circulars here signed by ten very responsible people. I handed them to the Minister here on the floor of the House and said it was more sensible than putting down a further question. I believed myself I was getting a kiosk for Newtowncashel I put down so many questions——
I must ask the Deputy to conform to the rules governing Question Time.
I never heard from the Minister since. The next thing I saw was a letter from the Minister for Justice stating that there was a telephone kiosk coming to Newtowncashel. Maybe the Minister forgot me, I do not know.
I am glad the Deputy is glad, and I am sure the people of Newtowncashel will be grateful to him for his efforts.
13.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the proposal he has for the development of the telephone service in County Clare for 1977; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
The automatic exchange at Newmarket-on-Fergus and the manual exchange at Kilrush will be extended in 1977. Trunk schemes to be completed will include trunk cables between Ennis and Ennistymon, Ennis and Kilrush, Kilrush and Knock, Miltown Malbay and Mullagh, Carron and Kilfenora, Lisdoonvarna and Ballyvaughan.
The acquisition of sites and the erection of exchange buildings in preparation for the conversion of the larger manual exchanges in certain areas in County Clare are proceeding.
14.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will provide a public telephone kiosk in the village of Lisgoold, Leamlara, County Cork.
Kiosks are not provided in rural areas such as Lisgoold where there is no post office.