Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 25 May 1978

Vol. 306 No. 12

Adjournment Debate: Telecommunications Services.

Mr. O'Donnell

I regret very much that once again—this matter has been raised on several occasions in recent months—this party's spokesman on transport and communications has been compelled to avail of the facilities of this House to draw the attention of the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs to the continuing serious situation in the telecommunications sector of his Department. I sought permission to raise this matter because of a number of very serious problems which have arisen over the past few days despite the fact that we have just suffered a prolonged telecommunications dispute extending over several months, the longest in the history of the Post Office. Despite the fact that that dispute terminated some few weeks ago, the situation as late as this week and as late as yesterday is worse in some cases than it was during the recent prolonged dispute.

It was reasonable to expect that, in the weeks since the termination of the dispute, positive, determined action would have been taken to restore to normality the services which were put out of order or disrupted during the strike. One would have expected that the Minister would have urged his Department to pull out all the stops, to get the maximum number of technicians working the maximum amount of overtime possible to restore the services. What do we find?

I want to draw the attention of the Minister to two very serious matters which have been brought to my attention in the past 24 hours about which the Minister is aware perhaps. I want to refer to the situation in Cork city and the situation in Aer Lingus. In the past 24 hours I received numerous telephone calls, but I will not give the gist of them. I want to describe the situation in Cork as it is described in The Cork Examiner today:

After one of the most frustrating days in the history of the telecommunications service there were mounting fears last night of a mass walk-out at the Cork telephone exchange where operators claim that they have been bearing the brunt of abuse from frustrated subscribers for a situation which is entirely outside their control.

Subscribers in Cork found it virtually impossible to make trunk calls yesterday and there were instances where it took hours to get through to local numbers.

Lines to Dublin, in particular, became over-loaded and operators could not be contacted due to faults at the exchange.

At 1.30 p.m. 300 subscribers had calls booked to Dublin and there was a delay of up to two hours.

I went to the trouble today to check out some of this. The situation in Cork is very bad. Equipment is faulty in the exchange and, apparently, necessary repairs have not been carried out. What disturbed me most of all, and what led me to raise this matter on the Adjournment, is that I understand—and I want the Minister to clarify this; as I already said one would expect that all the stops would have been pulled out to restore services to normal as quickly as possible; that there would be unlimited overtime, and so on—there was no overtime the first week after the dispute, there was limited overtime the second week and, in the current week, there is still limited overtime. Whereas normally workers could work as many hours as they felt they were able to, a limit has now been imposed on the amount of overtime technicians and engineers can work. If this is a fact, it is appalling.

I do not have to describe the frustration, the delays, the failure, and so on, of the telephone service in Cork. I quote again from The Cork Examiner:

Equipment at the exchange is in a bad state of repair. The telephonists' boards are defective and lines in are not lighting at all.

It goes on to describe the various problems. I also have reports from the west, the north-west, and various other parts of the country. I am particularly concerned about the computer bureau at Furbo in Connemara which was set up during my period as Minister for the Gaeltacht with a substantial State investment. Prior to my departure from office I approved a merger with a similar type computer operation in Shannon. We now have one of the most modern, most advanced and most sophisticated computer operations outside of Dublin with the marriage of the Galway and the Shannon computers. Modern computer services are heavily dependent on Post Office lines for the transmission of data and so on. The computer operation at Furbo, in which I have deep personal interest, was gravely handicapped, obviously, during the strike, and is still having problems.

In addition to being Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the Minister is also Minister for Tourism and Transport. I was appalled and shocked—I could hardly believe it—when I was informed last evening of the situation Aer Lingus had to contend with over the past three days in Dublin Airport and in all their offices. Due to a fault in the main cable linking the airport, they were compelled for the past three days to operate their computer reservation system, their telephone system and their entire telecommunications system on one-third of their normal link capacity. I saw a statement in another paper, which I have not been able to confirm, that only one of the eight lines linking the airport was in operation. It was stated by a spokesman for Aer Lingus that only one-third of their links are in operation.

The Minister has responsibility for tourism and transport and also for Aer Lingus. It is bad enough to have this breakdown but, up to last night, no effort had been made to repair the fault in a vital area in a vital service. We are now into the tourist season. We must also bear in mind that recently there was a fairly prolonged industrial dispute in Aer Lingus which caused obvious problems for the airline. I want the Minister to inform us what has been happening since the resumption of work. Has there been a restriction on overtime? What is the reason for the delay in rectifying the fault? I understand 10,000 or 12,000 telephones are out of order and I do not expect every telephone to be operational in a couple of weeks after a prolonged strike.

As I said, we have this appalling situation in Cork city, our second city, and the appalling situation in Aer Lingus where they have a reservation service linking their offices all over the world. They are vitally dependent on this telecommunications link for their business. I cannot understand why this has been allowed to go on for three days with no effort made to repair the fault.

There is another very serious dimension in relation to Aer Lingus. In addition to providing their own computer reservation system linked with their offices abroad and with tour operators and travel agencies at home and abroad, Aer Lingus also have very valuable contracts with overseas airlines. These contracts are very good revenue earners for our national airline. Aer Lingus are providing computer reservation facilities for at least two airlines of which I am aware. There may be more. What will those airlines think—having suffered through the telecommunications dispute for months —of this situation at Dublin Airport when we are almost at the peak of the tourist season?

I understand some industrial action has been taken in the international telephone exchange in Dublin in the past few days. I have not got the details. As well as emphasising the points which have been brought to my notice—I feel I should do so, and this is the place to do it and have them discussed openly—I am gravely concerned about the overall situation and about certain signs, symptoms and indications which have been emerging over the past week of the possibility of another serious breakdown or another serious industrial relations dispute affecting the telecommunications service. This evening week I questioned the Minister about the Government's intention regarding the setting up of an independent telecommunications service and this matter was adverted to by the Taoiseach when addressing the Chamber of Commerce in Dublin the previous day. The Minister did not give me any information but told me that the matter was being looked into.

In the final analysis the Minister must take the major share of the blame for the prolonging of the telecommunications dispute and for the worsening situation that has emerged in the last few days. The Minister and his Minister of State must pull out all the stops to settle this matter to ensure the restoration of normal services as quickly as possible. Where an emergency arises, such as that which occurred yesterday in Cork, there should be a task force available to carry out the necessary repairs. The restoration of normal service is the immediate problem and, consequently, I ask the Minister to indicate whether he made any progress in recent weeks or reached any decision with a view to implementing a new industrial relations structure in the Department.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

The Deputy is broadening the scope of the debate. He should realise that we are dealing only with the present situation.

Mr. O'Donnell

I am dealing with the deteriorating situation and surely I am entitled to make suggestions as to how that might be resolved.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

That does not arise. We are dealing with the present position.

Mr. O'Donnell

The Chair is being over-conscientious in his interpretation of the question. I am talking about a situation which is serious nationally, economically and socially. This problem has been with us for months and the Minister is conspicuous by his apparent inactivity in the matter. No action is being taken to restore the disrupted services and there is no evidence of any new thinking on the part of the Minister or the Government in relation to this problem. I urge on the Minister the desirability of setting up immediately an independent mission to examine the whole shebang.

Mr. Mitchell

My interest is in the industrial relations aspect of the dispute.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

The industrial relations aspect cannot be raised on this question. We are dealing only with the present deterioration in the service. It is very limited and Deputy O'Donnell was aware of that. That was why permission was given to him to raise it.

Mr. Mitchell

I will keep to the question as relevantly as I can. During this dispute this House was reduced to the conclusion that the Minister was deliberately provoking the dispute.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

I have told the Deputy that he cannot proceed on those grounds. We can deal only with the present position within the service, the lack of phones or telecommunications.

Mr. Mitchell

I should like to develop my point. The House is anxious to know why there has not been any significant improvement in the telephone service since the end of the strike.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

That is not what the question is about.

Mr. Mitchell

The House is anxious to know how much overtime has been worked each week since the ending of the dispute and how that compares with the average amount of overtime worked before the strike commenced. They are the relevant questions and we want the answers from the Minister. We want to know why there is a difference between the overtime worked in the current week, for instance, and in a normal week before the dispute. Why has there not been any significant improvement in the telephone situation?

Mr. T.J. Fitzpatrick

(Dublin South-Central): Is the Deputy attacking the technicians?

Mr. Mitchell

The Minister of State will get his turn, if he is permitted. Is the Minister preventing the technicians from working overtime? Is that an attempt to further squeeze the IPOEU as we were led to believe he was trying to do before the strike? Is the Minister trying to cause friction within the unions in his Department? If he is he should stop in the interests of sanity. The Minister should tell the House why there has not been an improvement in this service and what role he has played in keeping down the level of overtime. We are not asking for overtime over and above the norm, although that would be justified in a post-dispute situation. We are only asking for the observance of normal overtime in order that subscribers and those waiting for telephones are given back the service which they have been deprived of for so long mainly because of the refusal of the Minister to enter into consultations at an early date.

Minister for Posts and Telegraphs (Mr. Faulkner)

I do not propose to reply to the irresponsible and mischievous statements made by Deputy Mitchell. I am surprised that those statements were made in relation to the present dispute.

Mr. Mitchell

The Minister should answer the question.

Mr. Faulkner

Deputy O'Donnell spent most of his time referring to a fault in the cable to Dublin Airport and the effect this will have on tourism. That fault has been rectified.

Mr. O'Donnell

When was it rectified.

Mr. Faulkner

He also read one part of a comment in The Cork Examiner but he did not refer to the fact that a spokesman for the No. 2 Branch of the Post Office Engineering Union said that there was no ban on overtime.

Mr. O'Donnell

When was the fault corrected?

Mr. Faulkner

I would like first of all to say that I quite accept that the telecommunications services are not yet back to normal. I much regret the difficulties and inconvenience being experienced by the users of the services. I must, however, remind the House that the industrial action by the engineering staff lasted for some thirteen weeks during which normal maintenance attention could not be given to the telephone system in many areas, particularly in key areas such as the Dublin trunk exchanges. During the period when normal day-to-day maintenance attention was not being given, it was inevitable that there would be a run-down of the system and that, when the staff resumed duty, there would be a big backlog of faults to be cleared. Additionally, of course, the system needs attention on an ongoing basis. In these circumstances, it must be obvious that it would take time to restore the system to its full working capacity. This was made clear by the Department on the resumption of work.

Despite this it was, I suppose, understandable that expectations of an early improvement in service should build up once work was resumed. People who refrained from making calls during the strike seem to have resumed their normal calling patterns. In any event, there has been a very substantial increase in call attempts. This has been a major contributory factor to the heavy pressures experienced on the telephone system recently.

Since the ending of the dispute the main concentration of effort has been on repairs to the local automatic exchanges, to the trunk equipment and operator switchboards and to large subscriber cables. In tackling the faults, top priority was given to restoring telephone lines to hospitals and other emergency services and normal working for these lines was restored within a matter of days after resumption. The local automatic service has been restored to normal virtually everywhere. Progress has been made, too, with restoration of trunk exchanges and STD equipment and with repairs to operator switchboards but there is still a lot of faulty equipment to be repaired. The position as regards faults on subscribers lines and installations is that all the large subscriber cables which were unattended to at the end of the dispute have now been restored to service and, in all, over 50 per cent of faulty telephone lines have been restored.

This is a very brief simple statement which does not fully reflect what has been achieved. The reality is that a vast amount of detailed, time-consuming work has been performed by many technicians over the last fortnight or so. As I mentioned earlier, there was a backlog of over three months work to be overtaken when normal work was resumed in addition to the current day-to-day work, and much work remains to be done.

On the telex side, a considerable number of subscribers are still without service. Some subscribers are experiencing congestion on some internal routes during peak traffic periods and on routes to Britain and other countries. The deterioration in the service to Britain and beyond was caused by a fault on a number of the trunk circuits serving the international telex exchange. Work on repairing this fault is in progress. For many telex subscribers, the service to Britain and other countries is normal.

On the telephone side there are also some subscribers still without service, although substantial progress has been made. The internal STD system is congested but, again, there have been significant improvements in some areas. Operator services in a number of centres, including Cork, Limerick, Mullingar, Drogheda and Dundalk, and the central telephone exchange are under very heavy pressure. There is delay in answering callers, and in some areas the delays are heavy.

I am aware that telephonists in Cork and in some other centres have been concerned over their inability to give the public the standard of service the telephonists would wish. I can understand the telephonists' feelings and sympathise with them. We are all anxious to see normal services restored to the public as quickly as possible and I would like to assure the House and the public that the inability to provide a good service in these centres is not due in any way to lack of effort on the part of the telephonists. They are trying very hard indeed in quite difficult circumstances and I would like them to know their efforts are appreciated.

I am hopeful that, over the next few weeks significant improvement in the quality of the service will become apparent, particularly in those areas where it is bad at present. Unfortunately, repairs to individual telex and telephone installations will take longer. The best that can be said at present is that my Department are very conscious of the serious inconvenience which the absence of telephone or telex facilities cause, particularly to commercial and industrial interests, and that everything possible will be done to restore service to them as soon as possible. Overtime is being worked and will continue to be worked to the maximum extent that will contribute to the restoration of service. Additionally, staff are being replaced in certain instances where this is to help in speeding up restoration work.

Finally I should like to comment on Deputy O'Donnell's reference to industrial relations. I want to state categorically that I have done more in a few months to improve industrial relations in the Post Office than was done by the Coalition during their four-anda-half years in office.

The Dáil adjourned at 5.25 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday, 30 May 1978.