Vol. 311 No. 1
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the sections of our telecommunications system which will benefit directly from the transfer of resources, consequent on our entry into the EMS, as indicated by the Taoiseach to the Dáil on 21 December 1978.
61.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will specify the programme of priority selected by him and his Department for improving and extending our telephone and telex systems, and if he will indicate (1) the present planned level of new telephone and telex connections from 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1982, (2) the proposed increase, as a result of the transfer of resources consequent on our entry into the EMS, of new connections from 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1982, (3) the percentage, for each of the specified years above, of these connections for each local authority area in the country, and (4) the percentage for each of the specified years above of those connections for each of the IDA development regions within the country.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 60 and 61 together.
The priority objectives of the current five-year telephone development programme, which were outlined when the Telephone Capital Bill, 1977, was being discussed in the Dáil in October 1977 are to raise the quality of service to existing subscribers, to increase progressively the number of connections made each year and to extend the automatic service.
The level of telephone and telex connections planned for in the current programme are:
|
Year |
Number of telephone connections |
Number of telex connections |
|
1979 |
55,000 |
900 |
|
1980 |
64,000 |
1,000 |
|
1981 |
74,000 |
1,100 |
|
1982 |
85,000 |
1,200 |
The manner in which the resources to be transferred on the country's entry into the EMS will be applied, will be dealt with by the Tánaiste in his Budget statement.
Departmental statistics are not related to the areas and regions mentioned in the Deputy's question; data on the basis sought could not be obtained without a disproportionate expenditure of staff time.
