asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he is aware of the great inconvenience to the people of Scotshouse and district caused by the lack of telegraph and telephone facilities, and that recently a fire in a flax mill in the village could quite easily have had disastrous consequences because it was not possible to communicate by telephone with the fire brigade, and whether he will ensure that adequate telegraph and telephone facilities are provided for the area forthwith.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Telephone and Telegraph Facilities (County Monaghan).
As I informed the Deputy in reply to a Parliamentary question on the 22nd March last, a public telephone call office will be installed at Scotshouse as part of the Department's scheme to provide a public telephone at every post office which has not this facility. The scheme has been in abeyance for some time past owing to pressure of more urgent work, but it is hoped to revive it shortly. For the reasons stated in my reply to Deputy Seán Keane's question on the 26th October relative to the installation of a call office at Mount Uniacke Post Office, I regret that I cannot say when Scotshouse is likely to be dealt with.
The provision of telegraph facilities at Scotshouse will be considered when a telephone call office is installed there.
Would it not be possible, in view of the circumstances of this case, to accord preferential treatment? Is the Minister aware that this area borders on the County Cavan, and that the people on the Cavan side of Scotshouse have to travel upwards of eight miles in order to obtain medical assistance?
We have three shops in the area, but we have no doctor or Garda station in the area. There is a parish priest, but he has no telephone. If there is an application from the mill itself for a telephone, we will deal with it sympathetically.