Vol. 461 No. 7
283 Mr. E. Byrne asked the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications if Cable Management Ireland Limited will have the exclusive licence to service Cable TV, Celbridge, County Kildare; the procedures, if any, citizens might adopt whereby they wish to complain of an inadequate service; the consumer protection that exists for those residents experiencing a bad service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3620/96]
In August 1990 the then Minister for Communications approved the transfer of the licence to provide cable television service to the Celbridge area of County Kildare to Cable Management Ireland Limited. It is not intended to issue any competing licence at this time. A condition of the licence is that the company must operate within technical conditions set down by my Department in order to ensure the quality of the signal. If a subscriber is unhappy with the quality of reception provided by the company they should contact the company directly in the first instance. If they are unable to resolve the situation subscribers have recourse to my Department who will intervene on their behalf. However, while I ensure compliance with the technical specifications, I have no statutory function with regard to the day to day operations of the cable companies.
With regard to consumer protection, the office of the Director of Consumer Affairs is charged with advising consumers of their rights under relevant legislation.
