asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs to arrange for the erection of a telephone kiosk at a rapidly developing amenity area on the shores of Lough Derg (details supplied).
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Telephone Service.
15.
(Dublin South-Central): The use likely to be made of a telephone kiosk in this location would not be sufficient to warrant its provision and I could not therefore agree to provide one there at present.
Is the Minister aware that we have provided substantial harbour facilities in Garrykennedy? Substantial amounts of money have been invested by Bord Failte, the Office of Public Works and the local authority. Because of this investment, Garrykennedy has become one of the leading harbourage facility areas of the Shannon, second to Carrick-on-Shannon, and as a result the number of visitors, foreign and local, has increased and the number of boats has increased. Even for reasons of safety——
This is a long statement.
In the emergency last year proper facilities were not available. If we are concerned with and genuinely interested in the development of such amenity areas, the minimum facility of a telephone kiosk should be provided by the Department of Posts and Telegraphs in an area of big investment.
(Dublin South-Central): The survey carried out by my Department indicated that it would not merit the investment. It costs something in the region of £400 a year to maintain.
Because of the interest Bord Fáilte and the powers-that-be have taken in the Shannon, surely the least the Department of Posts and Telegraphs should do for this area is to erect one kiosk in Garrykennedy to ensure that in time of emergency fatalities could be avoided and to provide a service in a developing area where hotels and new housing are being provided.
This is argument.
(Dublin South-Central): If the Deputy speaks to his local county council and they say they are prepared to underwrite it, I will ask my Department to erect one.
Is the Minister aware of the other submission which has made very little progress in his Department?
That is a separate question.
16.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs to state the precise date on which the automatic exchange in Letterkenny will come into operation.
(Dublin South-Central): It is not possible at this stage to state the precise date but it is expected the new exchange will be in service before the end of the current year.
How much overdue is the actual commencement of this service? What will be the extent of the service when and if it comes into operation?
The second part of the supplementary question is not on the Order Paper.
(Dublin South-Central): The projection was that it would be opened at the end of 1979. This projection was given earlier in the year. We expect to meet that deadline.
Is the Minister really suggesting it is on schedule? I am not making an issue out of that. It is so far off it that perhaps there is no record of it.
(Dublin South-Central): That is the last indication I have.
They must have been codding us.