asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he is aware of the complaints concerning the inadequacy of the telephone service at Clonmel, County Tipperary; and, if so, what proposals he has to remedy the situation.
112.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Telephone Service.
111.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will give details of the work at present being carried out in Clonmel, County Tipperary, under the aegis of his Department; and how it is designed to help the telephone service there.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 111 and 112 together. A new telephone exchange building which is in course of erection at Clonmel is expected by the Office of Public Works to be completed later this year. Equipment for the automatic exchange is on order and Clonmel exchange will, it is estimated, be converted to automatic working towards the end of 1973. In the meantime modern switchboards will be installed in the new exchange building and manual exchange working will be transferred from the existing building. The work involved is expected to be completed about the middle of next year.
During busy periods there is abnormal delay on trunk calls from Clonmel because of overloading of the main trunk route to Waterford. Twenty-eight additional trunk lines between Clonmel and Waterford, representing an increase of nearly 60 per cent, are due to be brought into service within the next month. These will improve the service considerably. Long term requirements will be met by a co-axial cable between Clonmel and Waterford which is also on order and is expected to be completed in 1973.
113.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he has received complaints about the telephone service in the Ceanannus Mór area, County Meath; and if he will indicate the steps being taken to improve the service there.
I have received some complaints recently about the telephone service at Ceanannus Mór. The existing manual exchange in the post office building is overloaded during busy periods. A new enlarged manual exchange is in course of installation in a new building and it is expected to be ready for service in about three months time.
The difficulties at Ceanannus Mór have been accentuated recently by intermittent faults on the Ceanannus Mór-Dublin circuits. Extensive engineering tests are in progress to determine the source of this trouble.