asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the telephone kiosks to be erected in South West Donegal in 1982.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Telephone Service.
15.
It is expected that kiosks will be erected at the following places in Donegal South West constituency during 1982. Aughlim; Ballyshannon; Bogagh, Carrick; Cloghore, Ballyshannon; Coguish, Kilcar; Derrylahan, Kilcar; Kilclooney, Ardara; Meenacross, Dungloe.
16.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when a telephone kiosk will be erected at Glenleighan, Fintown, County Donegal
It is expected that it will be provided during 1983.
17.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when it is expected that the public telephone kiosk will be brought into operation at Cahereevagh, Shrule, County Mayo.
In the first half of 1982.
18.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when a telephone kiosk will be provided in the village of Kilross, County Tipperary.
It is planned to provide a telephone kiosk to serve the village of Kilross.
There are however over 800 kiosks included in the current programme for provision of kiosks throughout the country and it may be some considerable time before the kiosk at Kilross can be provided.
Does the Minister realise that this is one of the few villages in Ireland that is absolutely deprived of an amenity such as a public telephone kiosk and that the residents there have no means of summoning emergency services if they need them? Could the Minister see his way to getting his Department to expedite the installation of this kiosk?
This file was brought to my personal attention only this morning. I am surprised that if there is no public telephone within two-and-a-half miles in a catchment area with 94 householders, that one was not provided before this administration took over. I assure the Deputy that as soon as I go back to my office I will give a direction that a telephone kiosk be provided there as soon as possible.
19.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if a telephone kiosk will be provided at Lismolin Cross, Mullinahone, County Tipperary; and, if so, when it will be provided.
The provision of a kiosk at this location is not regarded as warranted at present and it is not proposed therefore to provide one there.
20.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when it is proposed to equip Borrisoleigh exchange, County Tipperary with automatic service.
Installation of equipment is scheduled to commence in the 4th quarter of 1982 and conversion to automatic working is expected about the middle of 1983.
Is the Minister of State aware that the building to house the automatic service has been completed? If so, why is he not proceeding with the plan to convert it to automatic service much earlier than 1983?
The Deputy has already had that information from the previous administration. He was given every reason why the Borrisoleigh station could not be converted until 1982-83.
That is different.
The year 1982-83 is not very far away. I will assure the House that if we say it will be 1983 it will be 1983 and not later than 1983.
Arising from the co-operation that I had from the previous administration, the building of this automatic service proceeded and is now completed. It is because the building is completed that I am now asking the Minister to proceed with providing the automatic service. If the Minister is unable to do that, would he consider an interim arrangement whereby people demanding telephones in that area could be facilitated?
The problem is not with the building of the telephone exchange but with the supply of equipment for it. Ericssons have a very heavy schedule. I would refer the Deputy to the information he received. The possibility of giving a higher priority to Borrisoleigh was considered earlier this year but because of the dispute which stopped the installation programme for the best part of two months this proved impossible. The decision is therefore not with the Department of Posts and Telegraphs. Ericssons have been unable to provide the telephone exchange equipment.
The final part of my previous supplementary was whether the Minister had any interim arrangement whereby he could meet the demand in that area prior to 1983.
I will undertake to get in contact with Ericssons to see if they could supply the automatic exchange equipment earlier than the date they have now listed. I will do that as soon as possible.
It is a pity the Minister did not do it before he came into the House.
21.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when a telephone will be provided for a person (details supplied) to enable him to perform the important work which he undertakes for the benefit of the community.
About the middle of next year.
Having regard to the Minister's sympathetic disposition, I would say passion, for the achievement of reconciliation between different communions in this country, lack of which is one of the causes of our present difficulties, could the Minister not see to it that greater priority be given to this application so that the installation could take place much earlier than the middle of next year? Perhaps it could be a Christmas gift in the season of goodwill.
I would like to give everyone a telephone but we inherited in this administration a much neglected system——
(Interruptions.)
I sympathise with the Minister's difficulty.
The applicant applied on 20 July 1980. That is not very long ago. There are no spare lines at the moment and additional cabling is unlikely in the immediate future. That is the difficulty. If we overcome that difficulty we will provide a telephone.
Could the Minister not consider this almost as a case justifying emergency allocation because of the great importance of this work which is surely as great as that of other services which are provided under emergency scheme?
I appreciate the need for the service here. I am giving the Deputy the information which has been supplied to me. If it satisfies the Deputy I will have the engineers look at it again to see if an alternative can be found.
I would greatly appreciate that.
22.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will investigate the case of a subscriber (details supplied) in County Cork who is dissatisfied with his Department in regard to the handling of correspondence between the Minister, the subscriber and the Department.
Correspondence between the subscriber and the Department that extended over a period was brought to a conclusion by an agreed settlement on 7 September. The appropriate credit is being allowed in the subscriber's October-December account. The subscriber wrote, however, on 31 October about his July-September, 1981 account. This has now been cleared, in agreement with him.
I am sure the Minister read the correspondence that I submitted with the question. I would like an assurance from the Minister that there will never again be any need for that sort of correspondence to arrive on his desk and to assure the House and the people that the subject matter of that correspondence will not recur?
I cannot give the Deputy a guarantee. But I have the same views as he has and I have let my views be known to the people concerned. It is not the first time it has happened but on this occasion it has got publicity. It is due to human error more than to anything else. Being human we make mistakes. I accept that this was a mistake.
Many Members probably do not know what we are talking about. We are talking about the level of frustration caused while this subscriber was awaiting for no more than a simple card acknowledgment from the Department. I would ask the Minister to ensure that in so far as is humanly possible this sort of treatment will not be meted out to any other subscriber.
I appreciate the Deputy's point. I would like to give him an answer which may not be the full story but is part of it. This will happen again and again because of the numbers of telephones being installed here in Dublin. I acknowledge the interest of the former administration in this and it is my intention and the intention of my Minister, as it was the intention of the former administration, to decentralise most of the work. If we bring it down to local level there will be less chance of this kind of thing happening.
23.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the reason a person (details supplied) in County Dublin who paid his telephone account in full on 6 October 1981 was disconnected notwithstanding payment of his account on that date; if he is aware that the service was reconnected on 19 October 1981 and that a reconnection fee of £10 was charged; and if the subscriber will now be credited with the £10 already debited to him.
This subscriber's final notice to pay his account within seven days issued on 16 September and as payment was not received instructions to withdraw outward telephone service were issued on 7 October. This was done on 9 October. The subscriber paid his account on 6 October but this payment had not been brought to account before the disconnection instruction issued. In the circumstances the charge of £10 for reconnection of service is being waived.
Would it not be reasonable to expect the Department to inspect the accounts before cutting off this subscriber? The Department had three days in which to check the account.
I apologise to the subscriber to whom this happened. It will not happen again. This happened to me before I became a Member of this House so I have personal experience of the situation.
Could I ask the Minister to have a letter of apology sent to the subscriber concerned and a refund of the £10 with which he was debited for reconnection?
That has been waived.
Will the Minister send a letter of apology?
I will, of course.
Has that money been credited to the account of the consumer or refunded?
It has been cancelled. The money will be sent back.
24.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if a substantially reduced installation charge can be made in respect of a telephone applicant (details supplied) in County Dublin having regard to the fact that she is an invalid and that her only income is the invalidity pension; and the minimum figure that can be granted in the circumstances.
The answer is "no". Any question of extending the existing rental subsidy scheme operated by the Department of Social Welfare would be a matter for the Minister for Social Welfare.
I want further to add that this lady could apply for financial assistance to the health board and I recommend that that should be considered.
25.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the reason for the delay in installing a telex machine for a person (details supplied) in County Donegal.
Provision of telex service for the person concerned has been delayed because the special telex trunk system needed for the connection to the telex exchange is not yet available. It is expected that service will be provided in the first quarter of 1982.
26.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when a telephone service will be provided for a person (details supplied) in Dublin who is a widow living alone.
Cabling work will have to be carried out before service can be provided in this instance and, because of the volume of such work on hands, it will not be possible to attend to this scheme for about a year. Service cannot, I regret, be provided meantime. If it is possible to improve on this, it will of course be done.
The reason I tabled this question for oral answer is because questions for written answer are receiving very stereotyped replies. May I ask the Minister to take compassionate grounds into consideration? The applicant is 80 years old. Her family are living abroad and there is no way of making contact with them except by telephone. Are grounds like these taken into consideration?
Yes. I want to assure Deputy that the official dealing with parliamentary questions in my office was working until 11 p.m. last night. This is one of the files I talked to him about because I share the Deputy's view that elderly people should have telephones if at all possible. I shall have the matter looked at again.
Are the particular aspects I mentioned taken into consideration?
As the Deputy will appreciate, it is the business of the Post Office to provide telephones as fast as they can and in the maximum possible number. Because of cabling and other infrastructure needs that is not always possible. In this case there are difficulties. This application was made in January 1981. This may be a lame excuse but there are people waiting in this city for seven years. I will have instructions given to the engineers to see if there is another way of providing a service.
27.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when a telephone service will be provided for a person (details supplied) in County Donegal.
It is unlikely that service will be provided for about a year.
28.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when a telephone service will be provided for a person (details supplied) in County Donegal.
About the middle of next year.
29.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when a telephone service will be provided for a person (details supplied) in County Donegal.
Service will be provided as soon as possible but it is unlikely that it will be possible to do so for about a year.
Is the Minister aware that others are in a position to secure a telephone service as a result of representations outside of the political field? I had occasion to listen to Gay Byrne's programme recently and, as a result of a telephone call from his radio programme, a subscriber had a telephone connected on the same day as the application was made? Is the Minister aware of this carry-on?
The matter does not arise on this.
It is on the record now.
I propose to ask a supplementary on Questions Nos. 27, 28 and 29.
The Deputy may ask a supplementary only on Question No. 29.
In view of the reply to Question No. 29 and previous questions, I would not have asked the question did I not feel the matter should be expedited and would the Minister make an effort now to have the telephone installed at an earlier date?
I am prohibited from answering on Questions Nos. 27 and 28 but I am aware of this particular applicants' needs because it was I who got him his social welfare telephone rental allowance. I would like to give him a phone but there are 29 others before him in the Glenties area and that would be a little unfair to them.
30.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when a telephone will be supplied to a person (details supplied) in Dublin who earnestly needs a second line because of business pressures.
31.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when a telephone service will be provided for a person (details supplied) in Dublin who requires it for his photographic business; and if, in view of the fact that he applied for three lines in September 1978, at least one line can be made available in the short term.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 30 and 31 together.
It is expected that it will be possible to provide the additional lines within about six months.
We have been getting these replies from the Department for some considerable time, not just since this Government came into office but for some considerable time before that.
Will the Deputy ask a question? The Deputy is making a statement.
May we take it this will be an actual six months and not a Fianna Fáil six months with the whole thing dragged out and out and out?
The Deputy may not make the statement.
Will the Minister ensure, when he says six months, that it will be six months?
The Minister has answered that already.
(Interruptions.)
Order. We cannot have a general debate on this.
Just one final supplementary.
The Deputy may ask it on the next question.
32.
(Wexford) asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when he will restore a telephone service for a person (details supplied) in Dublin who has been without service for 12 weeks and who has reported the matter constantly during that period.
Service has been restored.
33.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when a telephone service will be provided for a person (details supplied) in County Galway.
Early next year.