asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he is aware of the large number of applicants presently awaiting telephone service in the constituency of Cork North-East and if he will take steps to have this unsatisfactory position remedied.
Written Answers. - Telephone Service.
415.
The connection of new subscribers has had to be restricted in parts of the Cork North-East constituency until additional exchange equipment becomes available at a number of exchanges in the area. It is expected that connections will begin to be made on a general basis before the end of this year when extra equipment is installed at a number of exchanges in the area.
416.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when an automatic telephone service will be provided at Portroe, Nenagh, County Tipperary.
In the second half of 1981.
417.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the number of "vandal-proof" telephone kiosks installed in the past year and the location of each.
I assume the Deputy is referring to the new type of kiosk structure which has been introduced in recent months. Six of these have been provided on a trial basis in Dublin, four at Aston's Quay and one each at Cathal Brugha Street and Lower Abbey Street. While not vandal proof, these structures should be less prone to mis-use.
418.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the total number of people awaiting a telephone service.
The number at end December 1979 was about 80,000.
419.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the number of telephone installations made by his Department in each of the last five years.
The numbers were as follows:
|
Year |
1975 |
1976 |
1977 |
1978 |
1979 |
|
Number |
36,400 |
38,700 |
41,600 |
39,100 |
32,200 |
420.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the amount allocated for capital expenditure in his Department in each of the last five years.
The information required is as follows:
|
Amount |
|
|
Year |
£ million |
|
1976 |
50.0 |
|
1977 |
54.5 |
|
1978 |
61.0 |
|
1979 |
75.3 |
|
1980 |
100.0 |
421.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when a telephone service will be repaired and restored to a business (name supplied) in County Meath.
Service has been restored.
422.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will distinguish between the situation where subscribers qualified for rental rebates when service was interrupted by a fault and the situation where subscribers could not make a trunk call from a rented coin-box in an automatic exchange area during the 1979 Post Office dispute.
423.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will grant a partial rebate of telephone rental to subscribers connected to automatic exchanges who have rented coin-box lines, as these subscribers could not use their telephones to make trunk calls during the postal strike and accordingly were denied a full service.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 422 and 423 together.
It is the normal practice of my Department to grant a rebate of rental where telephone service has been interrupted over a period. Rebates of telephone rental were therefore allowed to all subscribers connected to manual telephone exchanges in respect of the period their service was interrupted during the postal strike and to subscribers in automatic areas whose telephones were out of order. Subscribers with coin-box lines in automatic areas were in a position to make local calls and to receive incoming calls from their own exchange area and from other automatic exchange areas. Since these subscribers received much of their normal service, a general reduction in rental for them was not considered warranted. My Department are, of course, prepared to consider claims for rebates from these subscribers where it can be shown that service was seriously disrupted.
424.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the reason for the poor quality of the telephone service in the Blanchardstown-Castleknock area of County Dublin where cable joints seem susceptible to damage by flooding, the reason for the delay in servicing new estates in the area, and when it is proposed to improve matters.
There has, I regret, been a number of interruptions to telephone service in the area recently, mainly due to damage to the underground cables by flooding which has been quite severe in the area over the last month. This is a developing area and with road widening and other construction work taking place, cables have been affected in a way that left them susceptible to damage by flooding. Some cables have also been affected by chemical action from the soil but these cables are replaced according as this becomes necessary.
Because of the high incidence of flood damage in the Dublin area, it is not possible to restore service in some cases as quickly as I would like but every effort is being made to have the repairs attended to as soon as possible.
425.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when an automatic telephone service will be provided in (a) Castleblaney and (b) Ballybay, County Monaghan.
In about two years.