Vol. 414 No. 2
5 Mr. Currie asked the Minister for Tourism, Transport and Communications the steps he proposes to take to minimise the effect of the introduction of time charging of local telephone calls as from 15 January, 1992, particularly on (1) the disadvantaged, (2) the sick, (3) the old, (4) the handicapped, (5) the lonely and (6) those organisations which represent them and look after their interests; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
As I indicated in my reply on 14 May 1991 to a similar question by Deputy Currie, Official Report, Volume 408, No. 4, column 878, one of the major reasons I rejected Telecom Éireann's original proposals for timing local calls at five minutes intervals peak and ten minutes off peak, was my concern that the groups mentioned by the Deputy might be adversely affected by the proposed changes.
As I also indicated in that reply, I am mindful of the problem referred to by the Deputy and I have ensured that an overall reduction of 8 per cent will take place in the national telephone bill. This means that £48 million in savings will be passed on to the consumer.
I agreed to the timing intervals for local calls which will take effect on 15 January 1992. They are quite generous at a unit charge for a quarter hour for weekday peak time calls and a half hour for all other local calls. When considered against the reduction in trunk call charges and the expansion of the local call areas the vast majority of subscribers should experience a significant reduction in bills.
As I pointed out also in my reply on 14 May a number of charitable organisations avail of the Freefone 1800 service. This service is charged independent of the ordinary telephone service and the introduction of local call timing has no effect on the charges.
I share the Deputy's concern for the groups he mentions and it was precisely because of this that I rejected the Telecom proposal and extended the times.
That answer is as misleading as the very expensive advertising by Telecom Éireann. Will the Minister agree that we are concerned about individuals, for example, the widow living alone who possibly does not get out of the house except to go to mass on Sundays, who rely on the telephone for communication with relatives and others, or, indeed, the parent of a teenage family for whom the telephone has become a social instrument? I advise the Minister not to be at home or not to be available on the day the bills come dropping through the letter boxes.
That is a bit of an exaggeration, Deputy. I will probably be in Dáil Éireann. Some examples of what will happen on 15 January——
The Minister should try to answer the question.
——are, the present cost of making a call from Cork to Mallow is £1.70 and that will be reduced to 11p because it will become a local call. The cost of calling from Athlone to Longford at the moment is £1.70 and that will also reduce to 11p as a local call. On local calls about which the Deputy is concerned, it was precisely because——
The Minister should talk about Dublin.
I am interested in the whole country.
As I am, but we are talking about Dublin.
Let us hear the Minister without interruption.
Apart from the national situation, Telecom Éireann proposed to time local calls at five minutes, basically the five minute unit at peak time.
What about the old and the lonely? It is the thin end of the wedge.
I asked them to make that 15 minutes, which they did and to make the off-peak time a half an hour. There is hardly anywhere else in Europe that one would get a half hour call for 11p, no matter what situation one found oneself in.
We have the largest call charges in Europe.
The old and lonely will have to pay, and what about the Samaritans?
Ireland has the cheapest local calls in the EC except Luxembourg and Greece.
I am not talking about local calls, I am talking about telephone charges.
I thought the Deputy was talking about Dublin.
It is the lonely and the disadvantaged who will have to pay for this.
It is 11p for half an hour. We have to be reasonable.
