I move:
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £10 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1969, for the Salaries and Expenses of the office of the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, and of certain other Services administered by that Office, and for payment of a Grant-in-Aid.
This token Supplementary Estimate of £10 is being taken to give Deputies an opportunity to discuss the Estimate for the Department of Posts and Telegraphs for the financial year 1968-69. This Estimate was, as Deputies are aware, one of a number which were agreed to without discussion on 12th December, 1968. On the same date the House agreed to a Supplementary Estimate of £8.8 million in respect of pay increases for the public service. Included in that figure was a provision of £1.8 million for Post Office staff. For convenience of reference, I propose to relate my comments on the details of the Estimate to the figures shown in the published book of Estimates.
The net Estimate of £22,747,000 shown in the Estimates volume is £1,328,000 greater than the corresponding figure for 1967-68. Of that increase, £350,000 is in Subhead K, the Grant-in-Aid to Radio Telefís Éireann, in respect of increased broadcasting licence revenue. Accordingly, the net increase for the services directly provided by my Department would appear to be £978,000. The published figures for last year do not, however, include an additional sum of £408,000 provided at the end of March in the general Supplementary Estimate for increases in remuneration in respect of various staff pay awards and improvements in conditions of service. The actual increase is, therefore, £570,000 plus the £1.8 million for extra remuneration to which I have already referred.
Devaluation, a new cost element in the Estimates this year, is expected to increase gross expenditure by about £350,000, of which £200,000 will be recovered from Telephone Capital funds. Devaluation will also involve a reduction in Post Office revenue by about £50,000 in settlement of accounts with other administrations for the handling of postal and telecommunications traffic.
The following comments are offered on the other subheads which show substantial variations from the corresponding amounts for last year:
The increase of £572,000 in Subhead A, Salaries, Wages and Allowances, is mainly required to meet the cost of the pay revisions approved last year, which I have already mentioned, and to provide additional staff, particularly for the telephone service. The extra costs arising out of the current round of pay increases were, as I have already said, included in the Supplementary Estimate for public service pay increases agreed to on 12th December, 1968.
There is a reduction of £74,000 in Subhead C, Accommodation and Building Charges, due mainly to the completion of some major building works.
The increase of £91,000 in Subhead D, Conveyance of Mails, is almost entirely due to the effect of devaluation on the cost of our expanding airmail services.
Devaluation accounts for £250,000 of the total increase of £450,000 in Subhead F, Engineering Stores and Equipment. The balance is due to greater purchases of stores and greater expenditure on contract works under this year's Telephone Capital Programme.
The increase of £533,000 in Subhead G, Telephone Capital Repayments, is the result of growth in the capital investment in the telephone service.
The increase of £737,000 in Subhead T, Appropriations-in-Aid, arises mainly from the expected recovery of an additional £500,000 from Telephone Capital funds under this year's programme. A new provision this year is an amount of £50,000 for agency services in connection with the Department of Labour's Redundancy Scheme.
Letter traffic in 1967, comprising about 440 million items, was over two per cent higher than in the previous year. First-class air-mail showed an increase of four per cent and second-class air-mail of over 27 per cent. It is provisionally estimated that total letter traffic in 1968 was also about 2 per cent higher than the 1967 level.
There was a reduction estimated at 3 per cent in the number of parcels handled in 1967 as compared with 1966. This was to some extent due to the restrictions on parcel traffic introduced following the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in England but there had been a downward trend in previous years. Provisional figures for 1968 indicate that total parcel traffic will be much the same as in 1967, that is, somewhat more than eight million.
There was an increase of seven per cent in the volume of meter-franked postings in 1967 and this trend was repeated in 1968. These postings now make up thirty per cent of total postings. The conditions governing this type of mail have been relaxed to encourage the greater use by firms of meter-franking machines.
The percentage of first-class letter postings delivered throughout the country by the following working day is about 94 per cent of the total postings. For parcels and second-class mail the standard is only marginally lower. The bulk of mail for places abroad is sent by air on the day of posting and with few exceptions mail received from abroad is delivered on the day of receipt or on the following working day.
During 1967, 65 motorised delivery services were introduced. In 1968 a further 70 routes were motorised. There are now over 300 motor delivery rural services in operation.
Thirty-eight new postman posts were created in 1967 to deal with increased mail work arising from housing developments in urban areas. A further 31 posts were created in 1968.
Sixteen Sub-Post Offices were closed in 1967 on the occurrence of vacancies and 11 further offices were closed in 1968. In all cases the services provided were not being used sufficiently to justify keeping the offices open. There are now more than 2,100 Sub-Offices and 98 Departmentally staffed post offices in the country. We still have more post offices in relation to population than most other countries.
The new Central Sorting Office in Sheriff Street, Dublin was opened in August, 1967. The office is linked directly with Connolly Station by means of an overhead bridge which permits the transfer of bags of mail in both directions by a chain conveyor.
For many years articles and literature for the blind have been accepted for transmission by post at nominal rates. In response to representations from associations devoted to the welfare of the blind, I propose to introduce amending Post Office legislation which will, inter alia, enable this class of postal matter to be transmitted free of postage.
In 1967 special issues of postage stamps were made to mark the Centenary of the Fenian Rising, the Tercentenary of the birth of Jonathan Swift, the Centenary of the Canadian Confederation and International Tourist Year. We also joined with other members of the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations in producing a Europa stamp in 1967.
Special issues during 1968 comprised the annual Europa stamp and stamps commemorating the 800th Anniversary of the founding of St. Mary's Cathedral, Limerick, the Centenary of the birth of Countess Markievicz, the Centenary of the birth of James Connolly and the International Year for Human Rights. A special stamp was issued on 21st January last to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first assembly of Dáil Éireann. The other special issues during 1969 will be on the Europa theme, the 50th anniversary of the International Labour Office, the centenary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi, and a stamp featuring a contemporary work of Irish art. The first group of the new series of definitive stamps was issued on 14th October, 1968. The remaining denominations in this series will be issued during the first half of this year.
A total of 1,296,000 telegrams was handled during 1967. This was 3.7 per cent lower than in 1966. The decline was greatest in telegrams exchanged with Britain and Northern Ireland which were down by 8 per cent. The number of foreign telegrams increased by 2.5 per cent in keeping with the trend in recent years. Foreign telegrams (both incoming and outgoing) now account for about one-quarter of total traffic. Complete figures for 1968 are not yet available but for a considerable part of the year, total traffic showed a small increase over the 1967 level.
We now exchange telegrams directly, using the Gentex system of automatic switching, with seven continental countries, namely, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, France, Norway and Italy. It is hoped to extend the service to other European countries later.
Telegrams for countries not available on the Gentex system are worked to automatic message relay units in London and New York. This arrangement, introduced in 1966, has greatly speeded the re-transmission of telegrams between Ireland and those countries which are also connected to the units.
The telex service is expanding at a remarkable rate. The number of subscribers increased from 400 on 1st January, 1967, to 503 on 31st December, 1967, and to 662 on 31st December last. We have had therefore a growth of 66 per cent in two years.
It is evident that the advantages of this extremely useful form of communication are being realised by a rapidly growing number of firms. I have directed that all necessary steps be taken to ensure that requests for connection be met without avoidable delay and that the quality of service be held at a high level.
In anticipation of future expansion, contracts have been placed to increase substantially the capacity of the existing exchanges at Dublin, Cork and Shannon. An order has also been placed for an exchange at Waterford. Overhaul centres have been opened at Cork, Shannon and Waterford. To cater for the increasing traffic, 16 extra circuits were put into service in September last on the London route. It is hoped to get direct circuits to Germany later this year and also to double the number of circuits to the USA.
Telex service is now available to 106 countries. In addition to Britain, 12 European countries are reached by direct dialling.
I am glad to say that it was found possible to reduce the rental charges for long-distance subscribers as from 1st October, 1967. The reduction benefited all subscribers whose installations are located more than 50 miles from Dublin; for example, the annual rental for a subscriber at Galway was cut by £48 and at Cork by £70.
The telephone service is also expanding rapidly. In 1967 the traffic handled amounted to 254 million calls, which was 7.9 per cent more than in the previous year. Of the total, 226.5 million were local and 27.5 million were trunk calls. 82 per cent of calls were dialled directly by the caller. Figures of traffic for 1968 are not yet available but it is clear that there was a further substantial increase.
In 1967 some 1,450 additional trunk circuits comprising about 30,000 circuit miles were provided on 270 routes, mainly in underground cable; many open wire trunk routes were replaced by trunk cables thus improving the quality and reliability of the service; and ninety additional Cross-Channel circuits and two extra circuits to the USA were provided. Among the more important routes that were improved were many in the Counties Cork, Louth, Monaghan and Waterford as well as routes radiating from Cork, Dublin and Limerick. Since January, 1966, a further 627 trunk circuits comprising about 39,000 circuit miles have been provided; and 37 more Cross-Channel circuits and 3 extra transatlantic circuits—two to Canada and one to the USA—have been brought into service.
Progress with the extension of the automatic system continues. During 1967, 47 manual exchanges were converted to automatic working, a further 28 were converted by the end of December last and 10 more exchanges, including Tralee, are due to become automatic by the end of March next. There are now about 320 automatic exchanges to which 83 per cent of subscriber's lines are connected. Most of the lines connected to manual exchanges have continuous service and, overall, 98 per cent of our subscribers now have continuous service.
In 1967 additional equipment to provide for future subscriber and traffic growth was installed in 31 automatic and 61 manual exchanges. In 1968, 47 automatic exchanges and 100 manual exchanges were similarly extended. In addition, a modern manual exchange was put into service in Skibbereen in July last. Within the next six months similar exchanges will be provided at Castleblayney, Castlerea, Donegal and Listowel. Many other exchanges will be extended.
The number of telephones installed has been increased steeply by a record figure. In the year to 31st March, 1968, 19,393 subscribers' lines were connected as compared with 15,528 for the previous year. The increase was 25 per cent approximately on what had been, as I said last year, the highest number of installations ever reached in any 12 month period. As a result, despite a sharp rise in demand, the waiting list had by the 31st March last been reduced by 3,000 to 7,585 of which 2,762 were in course of installation. The target for the current financial year is 22,000 connections; 17,000 were provided in the nine months April-December, 1968, so that we are well on the way to reaching it.
I have had particular attention given to the older outstanding applications which had been held over because they required extensive construction work. It is expected that the great majority of the remaining pre-1968 applicants will be offered service before the 31st March next.
The summer of 1968 saw outstanding growth of traffic, attributable largely in some areas at least, to the successful tourist season and growth of motoring holidays. These factors and the exceptionally fine summer led to a remarkable increase in the number of cross-channel calls booked at provincial exchanges in the evening hours, in July and August particularly. At Dublin trunk exchange too, traffic was sharply up as compared with 1967.
I should explain to the House that the quality of subscriber service can be analysed in the following way. Service can be sub-standard where there is an insufficiency of plant-switches or cable, wire or radio circuits—to cope with existing traffic. As indicated above, a very substantial programme of extension in this field has been completed and further extensions are continuing to be made to meet constantly growing needs. Service can also be sub-standard when the percentage of faulty connections not due to faulty dialling or engaged numbers is excessive in comparison with the excellent standards in this respect to be found in some other countries. The efficiency of the system is measured by special equipment and also by frequent trial calls made by the inspectorate.
Last year I mentioned that priority attention would be given to the quality of the trunk and local service. I am glad to say that there has been a marked improvement in the system since I last reported to the House and our aim is to reach the highest level of service to be found in any country with which valid comparisons can be made. There is, of course, no question of being satisfied with what has been done. In some areas the standard is still not satisfactory and improvement schemes to raise this standard are in progress in many instances—some are referred to later—and in preparation in the remainder. All these schemes will be pushed ahead as quickly as possible.
The maintenance organisation has already been modified and further steps are being taken to improve efficiency.
At this point I shall refer briefly to some of the development works in progress or proposed.
A new manual exchange comprising 67 operating positions is in course of installation at Dame Court, Dublin, and will be brought into service for next summer's traffic. A new Directory Enquiries suite was brought into service last May.
Underground or aerial co-axial cable schemes between Cork, Bandon and Skibbereen, Dundalk, Castleblayney and Monaghan and Castle-blayney-Ballybay-Cootehill have been completed since the 1st April and the following are due to be completed before next summer: Arklow-Gorey-Enniscorthy; Cahirciveen-Killorglin; Ennis - Ennistymon; Ennis - Kilrush; Letterkenny-Dungloe. In addition, the capacity of the existing trunk cable serving Carrickmacross was expanded by fitting carrier equipment. The cables serving Ennis, Killarney, Listowel and a number of other places will be increased by similar means.
Work on a Waterford-Dungarvan cable scheme and on the Athlone-Castlerea - Claremorris - Castlebar-Ballina co-axial cable scheme is in progress. Some circuits from the latter cable are expected this summer.
Work on the installation of radio links connecting Dublin and Portlaoise, Dublin and Cork, and Portlaoise and Athlone is in hands. Work on the radio link which will provide additional circuits to Belfast and to Great Britain is also well advanced and will, it is expected, be in service towards the end of the year. Each of these links has a capacity of 960 telephone circuits.
It will be clear from what I have said that a considerable expansion of the basic telephone network has been and is taking place. To those who are impatient at the rate of progress, I can only say that nobody is more impatient than I am that we are not moving faster. As I have explained before, however, major installations take several years to complete from the initial stages. Long term planning is essential; and this applies not only to plant and equipment but to sites, buildings, staff and all those elements which go to make up a highly integrated service. I refer to some of these under other headings. Here I shall only add that we are looking at all facets of the service to see how improvements in organisation, co-ordination, co-opera-tion and everything else that contributes to higher productivity, more rapid progress and better service can be best achieved. To supplement our own efforts towards this end we have engaged consultants on certain aspects of the work. I shall return to these in more detail later.
At the end of March, 1967 a Weather Service for the Dublin area was brought into operation. I am pleased to report that the service has been a great success—over a half million calls were made in 1968.
An automatic time service is also proposed. A contract has already been placed for the "speaking clock" equipment. It is expected that the service will commence later this year.
For some time past the question of having a separate Classified Directory similar to those issued by many other administrations had been under consideration and I decided that one should be issued annually in future. This directory will contain the entries of all business subscribers classified by trade or profession and will have a high advertising content. It will be a useful service to our subscribers and will also be of considerable value to the business community. The contract for the production of the directory has been placed and the first edition should be in the hands of subscribers in May next.
So much for the Estimate, so far as it relates to telephones, for the current financial year. The Telephone Capital Bill, 1968, has already received a First Reading. With the permission of the House I propose that the discussion on the Second Stage take place in conjunction with the debate on this Estimate. If that is agreed, I think this is the most appropriate time— before I pass on to other services—to explain the purpose and provisions of the Bill.
This Bill is the eleventh Telephone Capital Bill to come before Dáil Éireann since the transfer of services in 1922 and the sixth since the War. Its purpose is, briefly, to authorise the Minister for Finance to advance moneys, up to a limit of £50 million, for continued development of the telephone service. The advances will be made as required over the next five years approximately.
Expenditure on the telephone service falls under two main heads. Ordinary day-to-day operation and maintenance are paid for out of moneys voted annually by the Oireachtas under the Vote for the Department of Posts and Telegraphs. Extension and development, on the other hand, are covered by funds provided under Telephone Capital Acts.
These Acts empower the Minister for Finance to issue out of the Central Fund sums for development of the telephone service. The issues are made on foot of annual Capital Works Estimates approved by the Minister for Finance. The Acts also authorise the Minister for Finance to borrow in order to meet or repay the issues from the Central Fund. The moneys required for repayment of the sums borrowed are provided annually under subhead G of the Post Office Vote.
The Telephone Capital Act, 1963, passed in December, 1963, authorised the Minister for Finance to issue a total of £30 million which it was estimated would be spent on telephone development in the following five years. There had been on hands at 1st April, 1963, a balance of £2,555,000 from previous legislation. Expenditure during the five years ended 31st March last amounted to £28,897,000 leaving a balance of £3,658,000. This balance is insufficient to cover the estimated requirements for the current financial year.
The amount of £28.9 million approximately was spent in the last five financial years as to £13.9 million for subscribers' lines and installations, £7.1 million for exchanges, £6 million for trunk routes and the balance on buildings, stockholdings and investment in communication satellites. During this period 76,000 new subscribers' lines were connected to the system, 209,000 miles of new trunk circuits were added and 479 kiosks were erected. Over 190 important trunk schemes—underground or overhead cables or radio links—were completed. These included Waterford - Clonmel, Carlow - Athy-Portlaoise, Dublin - Wicklow - Arklow, Waterford-Wexford-Enniscorthy, Lim-erick-Athlone-Galway and Limerick-Tralee-Killarney. Two hundred and twenty manual telephone exchanges were converted to automatic working and the capacity of existing automatic exchanges was increased by 54,000 terminations.
When my predecessor was introducing the last Telephone Capital Bill in 1963 he emphasised that the main effort would be concentrated on improving the quality of the service to existing users at the expense of delaying connections of new telephones and running up the waiting list. This policy was followed, but from 1965-66 on when the trunk capacity of the system had been greatly enlarged it was possible to devote more engineering effort to providing service for new applicants and the waiting list was substantially reduced.
Before going on to describe in some detail how the £50 million capital will be expended in the next five years, I should like to make some general observations.
At present we are entering on a period which I am convinced will be one of great opportunity as well as of challenge for development of the telephone service, to the immense benefit of the whole community. A first-class telephone service is today essential to industrial and commercial progress because efficiency and competitiveness depend more and more on reliable and rapid communications. The telephone is at the nerve-centre of the nation's economic life. Socially also, its value is high contributing so much as it does to the improvement of the general standard of living. In this country we are at a comparatively early stage of telephone development and I am convinced that with rising living standards and the growth of industry and business there are boundless opportunities for rapid expansion. But this expansion can be brought about only by a succession of planned development programmes adequately financed.
As has often been said before, but is still perhaps not fully appreciated, major telephone development plans take five years to mature in working equipment. Sometimes where new sites and buildings are needed the time interval is even longer. It is clearly impossible to develop the service adequately unless there is a firm assurance that capital moneys to meet forward commitments will be available. "Stop-go" conditions of which there has been some unfortunate experience on occasions in the past are an impossible handicap to development. I am fully confident that they will not be permitted to recur and that the sum of £50 million which I am asking for in this Bill will be made available year by year as required.
The amount provided for in the Bill now before you represents our estimate of the cost of the works programme which it is hoped to carry out in the next five years or so. This programme can be considered under the following main heads:
Connection of new subscribers' lines,
New exchanges and extensions,
Trunk system,
Exchange buildings,
Miscellaneous developments.
Provision is being made for a net increase of about 115,000 subscribers' lines representing a growth rate of 9.4 per cent per annum as compared with 7 per cent in the 1963-1968 period. This connection programme will entail extensive cabling in all built-up areas sufficient to cater for these demands and to cater for more rapid growth after 1973.
Four new automatic exchanges will be opened in the Dublin area and one in Limerick. A new trunk exchange will be brought into full service in Dublin and another in Cork. A new international exchange will also be provided in Dublin to cater for our foreign traffic which, except for that with the United States, has hitherto been handled by the London International Exchange. At present some 83 per cent of subscribers have connection to automatic exchanges; it is essential under modern conditions that this percentage be raised as rapidly as possible. Plans are far advanced in some instances and in preparation in others with this object in view. It is hoped to convert exchanges with over 100 subscribers (and a very great number with fewer) to automatic working in the next five year period. In all it is hoped to convert some 300 exchanges in the next five year period including the larger exchanges at Wexford, Killarney, Clonmel, Castlebar, Ballina and Monaghan. Along with this it is planned to increase the capacity of all existing automatic exchanges and to raise the spare capacity to a level adequate to provide for further expansion and prevent delays in connecting new subscribers' lines where demand grows suddenly.
I have already referred in discussing the Estimate for the current year to some major trunk cabling and radio links on which work is in progress at present. Further extensive trunk circuiting schemes will be needed throughout the country to keep ahead of the growth of traffic estimated to rise at 15 per cent per annum and to provide the extra circuits needed under automatic conditions. Some of the principal schemes planned for the next few years in addition to those I have mentioned are: Athlone-Ballinasloe-Loughrea-Galway, Kilkenny-Castle-comer-Freshford, Cork-Cobh, Water-ford-Clonmel-Limerick, Bantry-Glen-garriff, Limerick-Shannon-Ennis. Substantial amounts of additional equipment will also be provided at various centres to switch dialled calls throughout the network. The cost of the buildings required for exchanges and other equipment is estimated at £2.5 million.
It is planned to introduce subscriber trunk dialling to London and Belfast in about 12 months time when additional circuits will have become available from the new cross-channel radio link. The way will also be paved for extension of subscriber trunk dialling to other places in Britain and in Continental Europe.
The provision of the trunk dialling facility for coin-box telephones is desirable both for its usefulness to the public and to reduce operating costs. It is planned to introduce this new type of coin-box early in 1971 when the changeover to decimal currency occurs.
A further improvement development under study is the transmission of computer data over telephone lines. Such facilities are already provided on a limited scale but with increasing use of computers this service is expected to grow. Although the capital/revenue effects will be small the contribution to business efficiency and cost cutting will be worthwhile.
Some mobile exchanges will be purchased to give short-term relief in some instances and to be available as reserves in the event of emergencies, such as destruction of an exchange by fire. It is expected to provide some 500 kiosks in the next five years.
Over the past five years the work force of skilled and semi-skilled technicians required for large scale expansion has been built up and more are in training. Moreover, industrial consultants have been employed for a period of 18 months from whose recommendations it is hoped to secure a substantial increase in productivity by use of more mechanical aids and better organisation. Professional engineers have not become available in as large numbers as would be desired but there are grounds for hoping that this difficulty may be surmounted.
I should like now to say a word about the financial position of the telephone service. Apart from the direct contribution the service makes to economic progress it is a sound commercial proposition. The return on capital in recent years has been: 1963-64, 6.6 per cent; 1964-65, 7.1 per cent; 1965-66, 7.5 per cent; 1966-67, 6.3 per cent; 1967-68, 7.3 per cent.
If the service were allowed to reinvest its surplus and depreciation provision it would be able to finance about 40 per cent of its capital requirements from its own resources. Allowing for a modest profit averaging, say, £1/2 million per annum, depreciation plus profit would supply about £22 million of the £50 million capital required for the next five year programme. In effect, therefore, the Exchequer will be called upon to provide only about £5.5 million net, per annum, and interest will, of course, be paid on all sums invested by the Exchequer in the service.
Not merely, then, is an adequate communications system an essential requirement of the community but it is one that can be provided with the expenditure of comparatively small capital sums which will be fully remunerated. The moneys to be provided under this Bill will enable the service to be continuously improved, to make a modest profit for the taxpayer and to give employment to some hundreds of extra skilled and semi-skilled men as well as to many engineering graduates. I recommend the Bill to the House for approval.
Deposits in the Post Office Savings Bank in 1967 amounted to £25.5 million and withdrawals to £23.6 million. The net increase in deposits was £1.9 million as compared with a net reduction of £2 million in 1966. The improvement was no doubt due to the increase in the rate of interest from 2½ per cent to 3½ per cent payable from 1st January, 1967. In 1968, deposits amounted to £23.9 million and withdrawals to £25.8 million. The disimprovement in the position indicated by these figures occurred during the first nine months. This could have been due to some extent, to the fact that during that period the commercial banks were paying 4½ per cent interest on deposits as against the Savings Bank rate of 3½ per cent. When the commercial banks rate was reduced to 3½ per cent on 2nd October, 1968, Savings Bank business improved. At 31st December, 1968, the total balance due to depositors, including some £4 million interest, was £118.3 million as compared with £116.3 million at the end of the previous year, an increase of £2 million.
The increase in the Post Office Savings Bank rate of interest to 4 per cent as from 1st January, 1969, coupled with the improved withdrawal facilities —the amount withdrawable on demand was raised from £10 to £30 and that by telegraph from £25 to £100 — are expected to improve further the performance of the Savings Bank.
In 1967, deposits in the Trustee Savings Banks exceeded withdrawals by £0.5 million. In 1968 withdrawals from their ordinary accounts exceeded deposits by £1.3 million but this was no doubt due to the transfer of funds to their new 6½ per cent investment accounts. Net deposits in these accounts, which are in existence only since 21st November, 1968, had reached £1.7 million by the end of the year. The total amount, including interest, to the credit of the Trustee Savings Banks at 31st December, 1968, was £22.5 million, an increase of £1.3 million over the previous year.
Sales of Savings Certificates for 1967 amounted to £8.2 million, and repayments, including interest, amounted to £6.1 million. The corresponding figures for 1968 were £6.7 million and £6.1 million respectively. The principal invested at the end of 1968 was £47 million, as compared with £45.1 million at the end of 1967 and £41.6 million at the end of 1966.
The decline in sales of Savings Certificates from the peak figure of £11.9 million in 1966, during which the present Seventh Issue was launched, follows the normal pattern. In spite of the falling off, sales for 1968 were higher than in any year prior to 1966.
The new 6½ per cent Investment Bonds were introduced on 1st January, 1969. Purchases during the first month amounted to £1.8 million. There has been an appreciable outflow of funds from the Post Office Savings Bank and Savings Certificates into Investment Bonds. Moreover, this new savings medium has probably attracted money which would otherwise have gone into the older securities. It is too soon to make any assessment of the amounts involved in this diversion of funds but it appears that the greater part of the intake of Investment Bonds is new savings.
A new 2s Saving Stamp was introduced on 1st August, 1968. A new design for the older 6d Savings Stamp has been adopted and is expected to appear about Easter. These stamps are largely used as the basis of savings schemes in National and Vocational Schools, managed voluntarily by teachers, under the auspices of the National Savings Committee. I should like to take this opportunity to record my appreciation, and that of the Minister for Finance, of the excellent work being done by the National Savings Committee in promoting national savings. I should like to acknowledge, too, the valuable contribution made by teachers and all other voluntary workers in the savings movement.
In 1967 money orders valued at £34.4 million were issued as compared with £47.8 million in 1966 when money order business was abnormally high owing to the bank strike. The value of orders issued last year was much the same as in 1967.
The value of postal orders issued in 1966 was £8.8 million. This dropped to £8.6 million in 1967 but increased again to £8.9 million in 1968.
Agency service payments made by the post office, mainly on behalf of the Department of Social Welfare, increased from £47.6 million in 1966 to £50 million in 1967 and to £55 million in 1968. Post offices again took part in the half-yearly sales of Prize Bonds, handling about 30 per cent of the total amount collected.
In 1967 new automatic telephone exchange buildings were erected at Castleblayney, Swords (Co. Dublin), Gorey, Skibbereen and at 63 rural centres. Extensions to the exchange buildings at Dennehy's Cross (Cork) and Walkinstown (Dublin) and to the Portlaoise co-axial Repeater Station were completed. Additional office accommodation was provided at the Distillery Road (Dublin) Engineering Depot and at Cork. Improvement works were carried out at Blackrock (Co. Dublin) and Westport Post Offices. The new Central Sorting Office building at Sheriff Street, Dublin, was fully equipped and occupied.
Works completed in 1968 included a new head post office and engineering centre at Carlow; new telephone exchange buildings at Lucan (Co. Dublin), Rochestown Avenue (Dún Laoghaire), Cahirciveen, Castlerea, Dungarvan, Fermoy, Gort, Killarney, Muinebheag and Skibbereen; 58 exchange buildings at rural centres; extensions to Wexford and Skerries (Co. Dublin) telephone exchanges and improvements at Enniscorthy, Kinsale, Tuam and Tullamore Post Offices.
Works in progress include the construction of extensive new warehouses at St. John's Road Stores Depot; new post office premises, including telephone exchange and area engineering depot, at Claremorris and Macroom; new telephone exchange and area engineering depot at Newcastlewest; improvements at Tipperary Post Office and new telephone exchange buildings at Ballina, Tullow and at some 40 rural centres.
Special attention has been given to the improvement of facilities for staff training. Premises were acquired at Sligo for a further engineering training centre and additional accommodation for the training of engineering and other staffs is being provided in Dublin.
The number of staff provided for in the Estimate is 19,108, an increase of 228 on the figure for 1967/68. This increase is mainly attributable to the expansion of the telephone service.
An adequate force of professionally qualified engineers is essential for the planning and supervision of the telephone development programme and for ensuring that the ever-growing system is properly maintained. We have not, because of the general shortage of engineers, as yet got as many as we need, but we are making good progress. We are recruiting, both by way of Civil Service Commission competitions and directly, as many qualified engineers as we can get. The various university faculties are co-operating with us in meeting our needs. In addition, we are recruiting engineers-to-be by way of scholarship schemes. We are already operating for some time past two scholarship schemes, one for non-professional grades in the Department and the second for Leaving Certificate holders. This year a third scheme is being introduced for students who have successfully completed two years or more of an appropriate engineering or scientific course. These scholarships will entitle the students to receive pay during their studies and their fees will be paid by the Department. I am confident that these schemes will be of definite assistance in securing more engineers for the Department in the future.
We also need an adequate force of skilled technicians for the practical work on both telephone development and maintenance. This force, which is already quite large, is being built up by way of the Department's scheme for technician trainees. There are some 350 young men in training at present, about a hundred of whom were recruited in 1967 and 85 in 1968. In 1964, the intake under this scheme was expanded substantially, and the benefits are beginning to be felt. Early in 1968 some 70 trainees recruited in 1964 became available for technician work.
During 1967 a number of additional welfare officers were appointed, and three more were appointed during 1968.
The Post Office is one of the biggest employers in the country, its staff representing about 1.7 per cent of the total working population. Owing to the character of its services, it is largely a labour-intensive organisation and one of its main objectives is to make the best use of its manpower. Over the years there has, in fact, been a determined and sustained drive by the Department to effect improvements and economies by more extensive use of mechanical aids and efficient methods. Typical of these efforts are the gradual motorisation of postal deliveries and collections and the automatisation of the telephone service by the conversion of manual exchanges to automatic working.
To supplement the work of ten fulltime departmental organisation and methods staff, outside experts have been called in on various problems. As I mentioned last year, a firm of consultants was commissioned to carry out an extensive review of the organisation, grading and methods of work in the Department's Engineering Branch, and they have now reported on their review. When their various recommendations have been examined and tentative proposals formulated, the staff organisations will be consulted and their co-operation sought. I am hopeful that, in a joint effort, it will be possible to increase productivity substantially. Growth in productivity resulting from the better utilisation of manpower will result in greater rewards for the staff both financially and in terms of job satisfaction. Since the telecommunications services are expanding rapidly, the staff need have no fears that any redundancy will follow the adoption of better methods and better organisation of work. I feel confident, therefore, that the staff will welcome changes, the object of which is to raise productivity.
Automatic data processing is another field in which consultants have been called upon to assist. Automatic data processing has been used in telephone accounting and Savings Bank work for some years past. Consultants were engaged some time ago to assist in an examination of the economics of extending its use, including computerisation, in various branches of the Department's activities. Tenders for the supply of a computer system have been received and are being examined at present. I should, perhaps, mention that, as the delivery of computers and the associated ancillary equipment takes time, and, as there will be a very large volume of preparatory systems analysis and programming work to be done, the change-over to computer working in any part of the Department's operations will not occur for some considerable time.
The Department also benefits from its participation in the activities of the Universal Postal Union and the International Telecommunications Union. These organisations, in addition to their co-ordinating and regulatory functions, give the Department access to information on new techniques and equipment, to the advice of experts, and to the experience and experiments of other postal and telecommunications administrations.
Finally, various aspects of the Department came under examination as part of the general examination of the higher organisation of the Civil Service that is being made by a group appointed by the Minister for Finance.
Relations between the staff and the Department have continued to be good and this is borne out by the fact that the Department's services have been operated efficiently and to the satisfaction of the public generally. The number of complaints from the public in proportion to the volume, variety and complexities of the Department's work is and has been extremely small. It is worth recalling that the greater part of the Department's work has to be performed under pressure and much of it at unsocial hours.
While there is almost continuous consultation between the Departmental and staff representatives at various levels on a variety of matters, the main channel of negotiation on pay and conditions between the unions representing the staff and the Department is the Conciliation and Arbitration Scheme, agreed between the Minister for Finance and the organisations representing the great majority of civil servants, including those in the Post Office. Through it the staff have over the last couple of years secured higher pay and increased allowances, reductions in the length of the working week, longer annual holidays, and quite a number of other benefits. Major pay agreements have been negotiated over the past few months with most of the Post Office grades arising out of the 11th wage round. It is mainly because of the cumulative effect of the increased costs arising from these various settlements or awards that charges for various services have had to be increased.
There were, however, regrettably some disturbances in the Department's normally good relations with the staff and in the devoted service the staff give to the public.
A new breakaway organisation, calling itself the Post Office Officials' Association, and claiming to represent a number of grades, already catered for by existing staff organisations, called a strike in February, 1968, to compel the Department to negotiate with it on its own terms and in defiance of the wishes of the other staff organisations. The very limited support the strike received from the staff indicated very clearly the minority nature of the new organisation. The strike caused unnecessary inconvenience to the public mainly as a result of the support given it by the Sub-Postmasters' Union, a body not affiliated to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. The strike naturally left in its wake some rancour and bitterness among the staff, and the breakaway Association mounted a few local agitations designed to interfere with the service to the public and to embarrass the other staff organisations, but without much success. There are two peaceful courses, at least, open to the Association, either to seek to join in the Conciliation and Arbitration Scheme with the rest of the Civil Service or to avail itself of an offer of the services of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions to help resolve any difficulties its members may have with their former unions.
In August last a group of postal sorters in Dublin imposed an unofficial ban on overtime in connection with a pay claim being dealt with under the Conciliation and Arbitration Scheme. The initial cause of the dissatisfaction was apparently a decision of their union's annual conference about the nature of the claim to be made. The action was abandoned after a fortnight but not, regrettably, before it had caused delay to mails, with consequent inconvenience to the public.
As I mentioned earlier, such interference with the service to the public is contrary to the great tradition of the Post Office staff. Most Post Office workers are aware that in addition to their responsibilities as civil servants they are engaged in a vital communications industry in monopoly conditions and any interruption of its services can have far-reaching consequences, affecting industry, trade and the public generally. They know that they are in permanent pensionable employment, enjoying good pay and other favourable conditions of employment, including promotion prospects, and that they are sheltered from the effects of industrial action elsewhere, unlike many other workers; protective notices have never been issued in the Post Office. There are orderly means available to them through which they can process any claims and grievances they may have. In matters of pay and conditions, an arbitration board is available if agreement cannot be reached in negotiation. On my side, I recognise that it is essential to good staff relations that there should be effective negotiation machinery, sound grievance procedures and adequate communications. There have been discussions between the various civil service staff associations and the Ministers for Finance and Labour on desirable changes in the existing negotiation machinery for the Civil Service generally. Discussions were also opened during the year at the Post Office Departmental Council to examine whether changes are desirable in the existing communications systems and grievance procedures.
The commercial accounts for 1967-68 have been laid on the table of the House. A summary of the results for the five preceding years is given in Appendix C to the Estimate.
As Deputies are aware, the commercial accounts present the position of the Department as a trading concern. They are compiled in accordance with commercial practice to show the expenditure incurred and the income earned during the year of account, such charges as interest and depreciation being included in the expenditure. A balance sheet and statement of assets give details of the Department's very large capital investments, mainly in telephone plant. The accounts are audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General.
It is on the basis of these accounts that we determine financial policy, including the fixing of charges. The basic principle of that policy is that the Post Office should pay its way, taking one year with another. That means that the Department must earn a surplus in good years to meet the losses in bad years and to provide a reserve against contingencies. If the Post Office does not pay its way, the loss has to be made good by taxpayers generally.
There was an overall loss on the Department's services in 1967/68 of £467,000 following a loss of £430,000 in the previous year. In each of these years there was a deficit on the postal and telegraph services and a surplus on the telephone side.
About 60 per cent of the Department's expenditure is on wages, salaries and related payments for superannuation, etc. Any general upward trend in staff costs therefore quickly affects the Department's financial position. Staff claims cost the Department £1,000,000 in 1966/67, and £340,000 in 1967/68. The current round of pay increases will cost £1.8 million in 1968/69. Increased prices, higher payments to foreign administrations and higher interest and depreciation charges are other important cost factors which have contributed to the losses mentioned. Since higher staff costs are the biggest contributing factor, I should like to say at this point that the improvements in pay and conditions obtained by Post Office staffs have been secured under conciliation and arbitration machinery which operates largely on the basis of comparisons with pay and conditions outside the Post Office. I consider it just and fair that settlements arrived at in this way should be implemented in full. I do not think any Deputy will dissent from the view that Post Office employees should receive a reasonable return for their services. In accepting this, we must also accept that, in so far as pay increases or other increases cannot be met from increased business or from higher productivity, they must inevitably—in the Post Office as elsewhere—result in higher prices.
Taking into account the increased Post Office charges operative from 1st January, 1969, it is expected that the deficit—the third in a row—will be about £750,000 in the current financial year. If the charges had not been increased, it is estimated that a further deficit—of the order of £3 million— would be incurred next year.
The Post Office has always been a cost-conscious organisation; and it will be clear from what I have already said in reporting upon the various services that a considerable programme of modernisation and improvements, including measures to improve productivity generally, is being pushed ahead vigorously. But it is quite certain that the amount in question could not be found by economies, greater efficiency or increased business.
It has been settled policy that the Post Office should pay its way and there was no reason for any departure from that policy. In short, therefore, there was no alternative to raising charges.
The changes in rates have already been published, but there are some general observations I wish to make on them.
On the postal side, staff and related costs constitute some 77 per cent of total expenditure. Postal business grows very slowly—since 1964 it has grown by about 7 per cent to 8 per cent. The nature of the mails, which consist of a huge volume of low-priced items requiring individual handling at various stages, limits the opportunities for mechanisation and for increasing the productivity of the large labour force employed. Moreover, it is necessary to provide extra postmen, delivery offices, etc., in new housing estates in the cities and towns but the decline in population elsewhere does not enable proportionate reductions in staff or facilities to be made. In many rural areas wage costs alone on rural delivery have been well over 1/- per item.
The postal increases were designed to secure maximum revenue without raising the minimum letter rate above 6d. Even without allowing for some reduction in postings, which is usual immediately following rate increases, the yield from the revised rates will not fully cover estimated expenditure. To cover it and provide a margin for contingencies would require a 7d letter rate. It is necessary therefore to consider further what changes and economies can be made to reduce expenditure. The difficulty here is that only major changes in the service, changes of a kind which would reduce the labour-content substantially, would be effective in reducing costs significantly. Whether changes of this kind, for instance, reduced frequencies of delivery, roadside and garden-gate letter-boxes (which are common in the USA, Sweden and other highly-developed countries) would be generally acceptable here is not at all certain but if we wish to retain the traditional standards we must be prepared to pay the costs involved. While, overall, postal charges have not risen to the same extent as staff costs, it is clear that if postal pay rates continue to rise —as they have done—much faster than postal traffic, further adjustment of postage rates will be unavoidable.
The telegraph service has never paid its way. We face a continuing loss on this service and the increased rates are intended to keep the loss within reasonable limits. There has, however, been no increase in Telex rentals or call charges. I have already referred to the reduction in Telex rentals granted late in 1967.
Although telephone business has been growing rapidly, telephone costs —particularly staff costs, interest on capital and provision for depreciation —have also been rising steeply. In order to ensure the continued profitability of the services and an adequate return on capital, increases in telephone charges were unavoidable.
The higher charges are intended to yield a return on net telephone assets of approximately 9 per cent before charging interest. Having regard to the heavy investment in the service and current high interest rates, this is not an unreasonable target.
The increases in rentals, in the connection fee for new lines and in local call fees are needed to cover higher costs in providing subscribers' lines and local plant. The average cost of providing a subscriber's line is now estimated at over £150. The interest charge on this alone is over £11 a year at current rates leaving a small margin for maintenance costs and depreciation. The connection fee as revised is still substantially below what is charged in many other administrations.
An increase in local call fees could be avoided only by increasing trunk fees. It was considered undesirable to increase trunk charges because one of the best ways of encouraging the telephone habit is to keep charges for long distance calls down and because improvements in techniques have tended to reduce the costs of providing trunk circuits. On the other hand, local calls are still good value at the revised rates. One can, for instance, make a call from Greystones to Balbriggan, a distance of about 35 miles, at the local rate and most of County Clare is within the local range. Local calls are, moreover, untimed. Ten years ago millions of such calls were charged for as trunk calls at 10d or more per three minutes. The increase from 4d to 6d for local calls from coinboxes is necessary for a number of reasons. The present coinboxes would not take five pennies and new coinboxes capable of taking them would be difficult and costly to procure. On the practical level, the balance of advantage undoubtedly lies in having coinboxes capable of taking 6d pieces. People are much more likely to have a 6d piece rather than five pennies when they need to make a coinbox call.
I have already indicated that I decided not to increase trunk call charges. In fact, some trunk charges have been reduced. I also decided to reduce the effect of the rate increases on applicants for telephones in rural areas by relaxing the requirement in regard to payment of rental in advance for telephone lines serving premises outside one mile from the exchange. Given the situation which I have out-lined, the House will, I am sure, agree that the rate increases were unavoidable.
I should like to conclude my review of the recent past and outline of plans for the immediate future by saying that I am also giving sustained consideration to the long-term future of the Department and of its services. I do not propose to go into detail about this aspect but I should like to assure the House that I and the officers of my Department are giving much thought as to how best the various services can be developed in the long-term, what new services should be introduced to meet the changing needs of the public, how the services can be most efficiently financed, and what staffing arrangements are likely to be required in the future. As I mentioned last year, the status and basic organisation of the Department are under reconsideration. To those questions, and to the many others likely to arise, the answers most effective from the point of view of service to the public, no matter how radical the action required may be, will be sought.
In accordance with practice in previous years I propose to confine my remarks to important developments in the broadcasting services and to matters in which, as Minister, I have a statutory function.
The total amount to be paid to the Broadcasting Authority under Subhead K in respect of net revenue collected in the form of licence fees is estimated at £2,150,000. This includes a carry-over of £110,000 in respect of receipts in excess of the subhead provision for 1967-68. It also includes provision for further growth of receipts in the current financial year.
On the basis that £1 5s of each £5 licence fee is intended for the sound broadcasting service, a sum of £716,500 is being provided for sound broadcasting and £1,433,500 for television. The amount thus allocated to sound broadcasting together with advertising revenue on the radio side, will fall short by some £400,000 of estimated expenditure on that service in 1968-69. This deficit will be made good out of the Authority's general revenue.
When introducing the Estimate for 1967-68 I mentioned that owing to progressively increasing costs the Authority thought it likely that its annual overall surplus would continue to decline and would be converted to a substantial deficit in 1968-69. I am glad to say that the position has turned out to be better than was then anticipated. The Authority's Annual Report for 1968, which has been laid before the House, shows an overall surplus of £371,000 odd in 1967-68 as compared with £105,000 for the previous year. The television service produced a profit of £666,000 which was offset by a deficit of £295,000 on sound broadcasting. The improvement in the general financial position was due partly to the success of the campaign in October, 1967, against holders of unlicensed sets, and partly to an increase in advertising revenue. The Authority point out in their Annual Report that their income whether from licence fees or advertisement sales is directly related to the number of licensed receivers but that the number of receivers must now be expected to level off rapidly. On the other hand, improvements in the quality of programmes and an extension of their scope will inevitably give rise to increasing costs. Moreover, the large and continuing deficit on the sound broadcasting service reduces considerably the resources available to the Authority for financing the capital expenditure necessary for the development of the services. The present licence fees have remained unchanged since 1963.
Relevant figures are: licence fee combined £4 in 1962 as against £5 in 1969, an increase of 25 per cent. In the same period industrial earnings have advanced by an average of 63 per cent and average social insurance payments by 105 per cent. The television licence fee works out at less than a halfpenny per programme hour. In the period during which the present fees have been in operation, despite increases in cost, the output and quality of programmes have been considerably improved and the radio programme has been greatly extended. The Authority state they will not be in a position to meet the commitments involved in their plans for further improvements and contribute to the necessary capital expenditure without a significant increase in the level of licence fees. The Authority have put their case for an increase formally to me and it is at present being considered.
The grant of free receiving licences to certain old age pensioners and others came into operation on 1st July last. The cost is being borne by the Exchequer. In the first six months of the scheme's operation about 19,000 free licences were issued by my Department to eligible persons, that is, 11,000 combined and 8,000 sound licences. About 15,000 of the recipients held licences previously—9,000 combined and 6,000 sound.
There are now approximately 185,000 sound and 395,000 combined licences —that is, 580,000 licences altogether. In fairness to the holders of these licences it is important that unlicensed holders should be detected and it is proposed to take more effective measures towards this end. Within a few months it is hoped to have the most modern kind of detection van in service. New legislation to help with the problem is being prepared. The provisions proposed include heavier fines for licence defaulters and the keeping of records by radio/television dealers and rental companies.
For the past three years the Authority has been financing its capital programme as well as its operating expenditure from its own resources. Last year, 1967-68, RTE's capital expenditure amounted to £500,000 approximately which was incurred mainly on the provision of an additional television outside broadcasting unit, general broadcasting equipment, completion of the Donnybrook television building and the purchase of St. Andrew's School grounds to cater for further growth of the broadcasting services. In the current year RTE will spend about the same amount — again from its own resources—on a number of projects, including the extension of filming and recording facilities, general radio and television equipment and initial expenditure on a new radio centre.
In view of certain correspondence in the Press suggesting extravagance in RTE, I would like to point out that a comparison made in 1967 of costs per hour of programmes in various television services showed that RTE had the lowest cost per hour for television broadcasting. The figures for all-in cost per hour were Britain (BBC) £5,249, Sweden £3,907, Denmark, £2,688, Netherlands £2,423, Norway £1,824 and RTE £1,290. I have naturally urged the Board to maintain this excellent record in the face of rising costs as far as possible.
During the past year I approved a proposal by the Authority to extend the hours of sound broadcasting from 96 to 118 per week so as to enable the Authority to operate the radio service continuously from early morning to midnight. The extended service came into operation on 2nd November in conjunction with a comprehensive revision of sound broadcasting programmes. The changes are intended to cater more fully for the changed pattern of listening brought about by, among other things, the extensive spread of television viewing and the widespread use of transistor radios. Part of the additional cost will be met from extra fees for advertising, which will be mostly in the form of "spots" in programmes provided by the Authority rather than sponsored programmes provided by or on behalf of the advertiser. The initiative taken by the Authority in this regard will, I am confident, be welcomed generally.
Last year I referred to the completion during the previous year of the last two of the five main VHF transmitters. I mentioned that four subsidiary transmitters were to be provided, namely, at Moville, Fanad, Castletown-Berehaven and Cahirciveen. All four will, it is hoped, be brought into operation before the end of this financial year. When the operation is completed VHF reception will be available over 99 per cent of the country.
During the past year I received complaints of unsatisfactory television reception in certain areas. Existing transmitters and transposers give coverage to about 98 per cent of the country. The remaining 2 per cent is made up of small areas which have been the subject of a most detailed survey which has been completed by the Authority. The survey covers the quality of reception in each of 900 communities comprising 20 or more households, the population affected and the capital investment per area or "pocket" which would be necessary to improve the quality of service there. For each "pocket" a per capita capital cost figure is being worked out. As I have said before, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to give completely satisfactory coverage in all areas without incurring prohibitive expenditure. I understand that the selection of areas where extra transposers will be provided should be completed shortly.
That brings me to the matter of colour television about which I was asked a few questions in this House— the most recent one being in June last. I pointed to the more pressing needs of the broadcasting service which must be looked at before there can be any question of introducing colour television. It is unlikely that the Authority will be in a position to start a colour television service for some years. The engineering staff concerned are, however, keeping closely in touch with technical developments in this field.
The Broadcasting (Offences) Act, 1968, which is intended to deal with the problem of "pirate" broadcasting stations on ships and structures outside national territories came into operation on 18th October, 1968, and the Council of Europe Agreement on this subject has since been ratified on behalf of the Government.
I have no doubt that every Deputy will have his own views on RTE programmes, particularly those on television. For my own part the Authority is to be congratulated on many excellent programmes, both sound and television, broadcast since the last Estimate was taken. There were, of course, some in which I found cause for criticism. On occasion I have passed on my views—favourable or unfavourable—to the Authority for consideration. I would recommend Deputies and others to do likewise. I am sure that anything Deputies may have to say on programmes will carefully be considered by the Authority, every member of which recognises that criticism and controversy are not only inseparable from broadcasting but indeed essential to it. It is evident from viewing foreign television and from a study of intelligent debate on the effects of TV on the public mind that the establishment is always on the defensive. It is essential, therefore, that in all current affairs discussions there should be adequate background briefing and balanced discussion, otherwise such discussions become merely shock creating and in relation to what is practicable contribute little to the ultimate solution that must be found.
One aspect on which I consider RTE to have earned special commendation is the very marked development that has been undertaken in the realm of programmes of the public service type. This includes the Telefís Scoile series, for which I approved an extension of programme time to the present total of 5½ hours weekly. The current series is planned to comprise 246 programmes aimed at secondary schools and covering a wide range of subjects selected in consultation with the Department of Education, which bears the costs involved. Other public service programmes, with which Deputies are no doubt more familiar because they are shown during the evening hours, are the farming features such as "On the Land" and "Mart and Market"; "Radharc"; "Work" and the various documentaries on the Continent.
In connection with programmes on current affairs and news bulletins, I have on a number of occasions indicated some objectives which I consider should be aimed at. My observations in replying to the debate on the last Estimate and speeches made since then, the most recent of which was in Seanad Éireann on 15th January, constitute what seems to me to be a constructive policy in this regard. News programmes should include a high proportion of constructive and praiseworthy developments and advancement in the national and international sphere and should inculcate love of our cultural heritage. Achievements should not be glossed over or taken for granted because, if there are not newspaper or broadcast reports about progress, the tendency is to assume that no progress is in fact being made. How many people in a hundred thousand can recount any details of solid development made in Africa or Asia? The world is living in a constant state of shock because of sensational reporting.
If current affairs programmes are designed to make viewers think constructively on social, economic and moral problems, this helps to build bridges between groups in the community holding widely different viewpoints, and avoids the creation of abysses between different groups. There is one essential difference between this country and many abroad. The vast majority of the people subscribe to the Christian faith. The most easy path to sensational shock-creating broadcasting is to cast doubt on every form of philosophy which embraces fundamental truths based on revealed religion.
In this connection I feel bound to state that I have been receiving criticism of RTE Current Affairs programmes from many people of widely different political and social view-points. This criticism can be expressed in the following way. A national broadcasting service should not follow the prevailing trend of stirring up protest in such a way as to emphasise all the weaknesses of human nature and defects in the social and economic structure leaving not an impression of constructive policies to be pursued but a cynical and destructive impact on the viewer and listener. I wish to make it clear that whatever be the practice in other countries the standards of RTE in encouraging constructive thinking and positive solutions for problems must be of the highest order. If radical solutions are advocated for problems they must be examined both in regard to the current policies adopted by any institution and in regard to financial conditions where these apply.
There are countries far wealthier than ours living under conditions of high taxation and of State and local authority intervention where there are unsolved problems. There are countries where there is among young people a pervasive unrest whose principal cause is the absence of any philosophy to replace religious doctrine. Having regard to the majority view in this country on such matters, I will not have RTE used to create a murky cynical atmosphere in regard to what, ultimately, are problems due to inadequacies in character in people as a whole.
I understand also that the Authority has taken steps to modify the recent trend in interviewing persons of all political and social opinions in a manner which has aroused the strongest criticism.
The Authority, from my discussions with them, fully understand the responsibility of RTE in encouraging constructive discussion on controversial matters and I believe that they will continue to exercise control where this is required. I am sure that RTE realises that the greatest care must be exercised in holding popular discussions on moral and religious questions to ensure that there are commentators present who can present the views of the great majority of our people.
In striving to achieve these aims, I have the feeling that we in Ireland suffer from one great handicap. Sometimes in discussion a lack of courage to speak out is evident among the more moderate section of the population, and their failure to express their views forcibly often creates difficulties for such bodies as RTE. There is no problem in this country that cannot be tackled by discussions of a creative character and subsequent action taken in the private or public sector. It is extremely important to give full weight to the financial aspect of changes in economic and social policies.
Another difficulty which arises especially in a small country like ours where everyone knows everyone else, is in achieving balance within a very large category of programmes. And, of course, as in common with all other countries we have problems to solve and priorities to determine, the existing establishments will always be on the defensive in some respect or another. There will always be differences of opinion and controversy, too, on what constitutes balance, and in this respect RTE faces the problem of all broadcasting organisations; they must choose between controversy and dullness.
I would like, in conclusion, to pay tribute to the former Director-General of Radio Telefís Éireann, Mr. Kevin C. McCourt, who relinquished the post on 31st March last, and to welcome his successor, Mr. Thomas P. Hardiman, whose appointment I was most happy to approve. I am sure I speak for every member of this House when I wish him well in his new assignment.
