asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will arrange to have telephone service provided for a person (details supplied) in County Cork.
Written Answers. - Telephone Service.
376.
It is planned to quote terms to the person in question and to some others in the area within the next two months or so. Service will be provided as soon as possible after the completion of an agreement.
377.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if his attention has been drawn to the poor telephone service in Macroom and surrounding district of County Cork due to outdated equipment; if he will outline the results of a meeting between one of his officials and the members of the Macroom Urban District Council and telephone subscribers in the area; and the steps, if any, it is proposed to take to improve the service up to 1981 when the service will become automatic.
I am aware that there is a shortage of trunk circuits between Macroom and Cork and that as a result, calls are delayed at peak traffic times. A recent meeting of members of the Macroom Urban District Council and business interests in the town with an official of the Department urged that additional trunk circuits to Cork should be provided, that the Department should expedite as much as possible the conversion of Macroom manual exchange to automatic working and that some busy subscribers should be given direct connections to Cork.
Four additional trunk circuits between Macroom and Cork, which is the maximum number that can be made available at present, are being provided and should be in service in the near future. Further substantial quantities of additional circuits will become available in the second half of next year when a new co-axial cable between Cork and Macroom is brought into service.
Provision of direct connections to Cork for some subscribers would involve using some of the existing trunk circuits exclusively for this purpose and would worsen the standard of service for the remaining subscribers. It is not proposed to do this.
Every effort will be made through increased maintenance attention to ensure the best possible standard of service in the period until the automatic exchange is in use.