asked the Minister for Communications if he will consider providing subsidisation or making other special arrangements to enable people whose houses are not convenient to existing telephone lines to obtain a new telephone service on the same basis as those who live near existing services; and if his attention has been drawn to the fact that no new services are now being provided to houses more than 0.5 kilometres from an existing telegraph pole while at the same time in towns nearby, new telephone installations are being offered on demand.
Written Answers. - Telephone Service.
98.
There are no funds available to me from which I could provide subsidisation to enable people whose houses are not convenient to existing telephone lines to obtain a new telephone service and there are no special arrangements which I could make in this regard.
The priority given to connections is a matter of day-to-day administration of Bord Telecom Éireann in which it would not be appropriate for me to intervene.