asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will make arrangements for the establishment of a telephone kiosk in a new housing scheme (details supplied) in Dublin, to provide a minimum telephone service for approximately 700 people who now reside there.
Written Answers. - Telephone Service.
284.
There is a kiosk approximately 400 yards from this housing scheme and the provision of an additional one in the area would not be warranted.
285.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the number of telephone kiosks (1) in the greater Dublin area, and (2) in the State; the initial capital cost of a public telephone kiosk; and the net annual running cost of such a kiosk.
There are 700 in the greater Dublin area and 2,960 in the State. The average capital cost involved in provision is £615, and the average annual maintenance cost is £430.
286.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will state, in relation to the conversion to automatic working of Kells, County Meath, telephone exchange, (1) when it was originally planned to take place and when it will now take place; (2) by how much the cost of the works have risen in the meantime; (3) the place Kells has on the priority list and other exchanges above and below it in the list; and (4) the number of phones to be serviced, the central exchange to which they will be connected, the nature of the engineering and other works to be undertaken to bring about the conversion; and the cost of these works.
(1) It was planned initially to have automatic working introduced by means of a permanent automatic exchange about the end of 1980; it is now proposed to provide automatic service initially by the use of mobile equipment which should be ready for service about the end of 1980 or early 1981.
(2) It is not possible to say at this stage whether any extra cost will arise.
(3) The general policy is to convert the larger manual telephone exchanges where there is difficulty in maintaining a satisfactory manual service to automatic working as soon as practicable, that is, as soon as buildings can be made available and local network problems resolved. Accordingly, the exchanges concerned are not listed for conversion in priority order.
(4) The 603 subscribers' lines at present served from Kells manual exchange will be connected to an automatic exchange at Kells. In addition to provision of the automatic exchange, the engineering works involved include underground cabling in Kells, provision of extra switching equipment at Navan and Drogheda and change of subscribers' equipment at Kells. Initial costs are expected to be of the order of £350,000 rising to about £900,000 according as further works are completed.