asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs what the present position is regarding the conversion of the telephone exchange at Inniskeen, County Monaghan, to automatic working.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Telephone Services.
76.
A contractor is at present installing automatic exchange equipment in new exchange buildings at a number of places, including Inniskeen, in the Dundalk telephone area. Apart from the installation work mentioned, a considerable amount of work by Departmental staff, including the renewal of cables, of portions of subscribers' lines, et cetera, has to be done before the change-over from manual working at these places can be carried out. It is expected that the new exchange at Inniskeen will be brought into service towards the end of the year.
77.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs what the present plans are for installing automatic telephones in south-west Cork.
It is planned to convert Bantry, Skibbereen and Macroom exchanges to automatic working within four to five years. I regret that it is not possible to say at this stage when the remaining smaller exchanges in the south-west Cork area will be converted to the automatic system.
78.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when the telephone service at Bantry and Castletownbere will be converted to automatic working.
It is planned to convert Bantry exchange to automatic working in about four years time. I regret that it is not possible to say at this stage when Castletown Bearhaven will be converted to the automatic system.
79.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he is aware that there is an urgent need to have a public phone kiosk provided for the residents of the Bonniconlon area, Ballina, County Mayo; and if he will take the necessary steps to have this matter attended to without further delay.
Provision of a kiosk at Bonniconlon is not warranted at present but it is likely that one will be provided towards the end of the current five year programme for extension of kiosk facilities in rural areas.
80.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will consider the provision of a telephone kiosk at Highwood, County Sligo as many people feel the need for such a service particularly when they require a veterinary surgeon or a doctor when the local telephones are off.
Provision of kiosks in areas such as Highwood where there is no post office is not envisaged under the extended kiosk programme for rural areas.
81.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will consider having a public telephone kiosk erected at Cummer, Tuam, County Galway.
Provision of kiosks in areas such as Cummer where there is no post office is not envisaged under the extended kiosk programme for rural areas.
82.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he is aware of the need for extra telephone kiosks in the town of Letterkenny, County Donegal, and when it is proposed to supply them.
It is likely that a fourth telephone kiosk for Letterkenny will be included in the 1971-72 kiosk programme.
83.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will make the necessary funds available for the installation of a public telephone at Derreen, Abbey Knockmoy, Tuam, County Galway.
Provision of kiosks in areas such as Derreen where there is no post office is not envisaged under the extended kiosk programme for rural areas.
84.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he is aware that many telephone kiosks are frequently out of order owing to the activities of casual vandals and if he is aware of experiments in Britain and elsewhere with unbreakable telephone kiosks; and if he will take similar action here.
Various measures have been adopted in Britain and elsewhere to combat the effects of damage by vandalism to telephone kiosks. My Department are keeping in touch with these developments and have already adopted some with satisfactory results.
85.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the percentage of telephones in the State which are connected to exchanges which have been converted to automatic working; and the comparable percentage for Britain, Northern Ireland and each of the EEC countries.
As the information required by the Deputy is in the form of a tabular statement it is proposed, with the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, to have it circulated with the Official Report.
Following is the statement:
|
Country |
Percentage Telephones Automatic |
|
Ireland (excluding Northern Ireland) |
83.2 |
|
Northern Ireland |
100 |
|
Britain |
98.4 |
|
Belgium |
98.8 |
|
Federal Republic of Germany |
100 |
|
France |
78.1 |
|
Italy |
100 |
|
Luxembourg |
100 |
|
Netherlands |
100 |
The figures for Ireland (excluding Northern Ireland), Northen Ireland and Britain are for a current date. The other figures are extracted from the latest available international statistics and show the position at 1st January, 1969.
86.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if there is an optimum ratio between the number of units of switching equipment in an exchange and the number of telephones connected to that exchange; and the extent to which each automatic exchange in the State falls below this optimum ratio.
There is no optimum ratio between the units of switching equipment in an exchange and the number of telephones connected to that exchange.
87.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the approximate proportion of the area of the State which is covered by telephone exchanges which have been converted to automatic working.
Approximately one third of the area of the State is covered by telephone exchanges which have been converted to automatic working.
88.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the number of exchanges converted to automatic working in each of the past ten years.
As the information required by the Deputy is in the form of a tabular statement it is proposed, with the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, to have it circulated with the Official Report.
Following is the statement:
|
Year |
Number of exchanges converted to automatic working |
|
1961 |
4 |
|
1962 |
3 |
|
1963 |
22 |
|
1964 |
43 |
|
1965 |
23 |
|
1966 |
72 |
|
1967 |
47 |
|
1968 |
26 |
|
1969 |
26 |
|
1970 |
43 |
89.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he is aware that in the area west of the Shannon the telephone service is subject to frequent and sudden breakdowns resulting in long periods when no service is available; if he will detail the causes of such breakdowns; and what steps are being taken to deal with the problem.
I am not aware that the telephone service in the area west of the Shannon is subject to frequent breakdowns. If the Deputy will supply me with details of particular difficulties encountered I will have the matter investigated.
90.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he is aware that telephone communications between Castleblayney and Dublin were out of order from 9th to 13th January and that such is a common occurrence; and what steps are proposed to have the position rectified.
Telephone service between Dublin and Dundalk and places served through Dundalk, including Castleblayney, were disrupted for several hours on the 11th January and again on the 12th January as a result of damage caused in two places to the Dublin-Dundalk underground co-axial cable. The necessary repairs were effected as quickly as possible. I am not aware of any fault which would have affected Castleblayney-Dublin calls on 9th, 10th or 13th January.
91.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if any study has been made of the feasibility of hiving-off the telephone engineering section of his Department, to be organised as a separate entity on a commercial basis; and, if not, if he will institute such a study as a matter of urgency.
I assume the Deputy has in mind separating the telecommunication service from the postal service and setting it up as a commercial organisation. This matter was considered by the Public Services organisation review group which recommended against a change of this nature at present. The report of the group is under consideration, and until its recommendations have been fully examined, it would not be appropriate for me to make any further comment on the matters raised in the Deputy's question.
92.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs (a) the cost of converting telephone coin boxes consequent on the increase of the local call charge to 6d; (b) the cost of converting the said boxes for decimal currency; and (c) the time required to complete the conversions mentioned at (a) and (b).
The information requested is as follows:—(a) £40,000 approximately; (b) £127,000 (estimated); (c) time required for work mentioned in (a)—within 3 months; for work mentioned in (b)—about 3 months.