asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the anticipated number of new telephone connections in the North County Dublin area within the next six months.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Telephone Service.
75.
It is expected that between 400 and 500 new telephone connections will be made in the North County Dublin area within the next six months.
76.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs what priorities determine the sequence in which applications for telephones receive attention; and particularly what considerations are given to humanitarian requirements.
The main factors which determine the order in which telephones are provided are the plant and staff position in the particular area, the urgency attached to the application, whether or not the applicant is an existing subscriber moving to alternative premises and the date of application. Requests for urgent provision of a telephone on humanitarian grounds are considered sympathetically and service is provided on a priority basis if the circumstances are regarded as sufficiently exceptional to warrant this.
What priorities are there or in what way does the Minister plan ahead for a new building scheme? In Dublin at the moment schemes are finished for two or three years before there is a public telephone, never mind a private telephone. Donaghmede has been up two years and there is not even a public telephone.
I think that is a separate question.
Yes.
77.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he is aware that telephone subscribers in County Mayo experience long delays in making telephone calls; and what steps are being taken to provide direct dialling in the county.
I am not aware that telephone subscribers in County Mayo experience long delays in making telephone calls. On the 29th June and 1st July, however, telephone service between Dublin and County Mayo was interrupted for some hours each day as a result of damage to the co-axial cable between Dublin and Athlone and during these periods there was, I regret, heavy delay to calls from County Mayo subscribers to places beyond Athlone.
Provision of direct dialling facilities for subscribers in County Mayo is dependent upon the opening of an auto-manual exchange at Castlebar which will be the primary centre for the county. Tenders for the erection of the building to house the automatic equipment at Castlebar are being considered by the Commissioners of Public Works.