Vol. 316 No. 6
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he is aware of the appalling state of the telephone service in the Ballivor area of County Meath and the action he proposes to take in view of the serious losses to business firms and private users in the area.
18.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he is aware of the appalling phone service in the Longwood area of County Meath and the action he proposes to take in view of the serious losses to business firms and private users in the area.
19.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he is aware that only three of the telephone lines servicing Summerhill, County Meath, have been in operation for some time, if he will ensure that all seven lines are operating and, if not, if he will arrange to have a temporary service supplied to this area from another exchange until the proposed automatic system is in operation.
(Dublin South-Central): I propose with the permission of the Ceann Comhairle to take Questions Nos. 17, 18 and 19 together.
There are, I regret, heavy delays to calls at Ballivor, Longwood and Summerhill. All three exchanges are affected by a shortage of trunk circuits to Dublin and there have been problems recently with the maintenance of the existing circuits to Dublin in some instances. Additional circuits to Longwood were provided recently but more are needed at all three exchanges. These, regrettably, cannot be supplied until additional equipment is installed at Dublin about the middle of next year. Special maintenance attention will be given to the exchanges and to the circuits serving the three centres with a view to ensuring the best possible service to subscribers. Every effort will be made to improve the service otherwise also.
Is the Minister aware that in the Summerhill area there are seven lines and not one in three have been in operation at any one time? The Minister will agree that there is no reason for allowing this. Is he aware that in these three areas there is quite substantial industrial employment which is being jeopardised because services are not operating properly? Promising something for next year is like saying, "Live horse and you will get grass". There is no evidence that the service will be improved within the next 12 months and I fear that many people will be out of work because of the inactivity of the Department.
(Dublin South-Central): My information up to last Friday was that all circuits to Dublin in the Summerhill area were working. There are seven such circuits in that area at present and an additional four, making a total of 11, are expected to be in service at the end of next week. In Ballivor all circuits to Dublin are working.
I am glad to hear that the Summerhill services are working. I assure the Minister that three weeks ago they were not working and that had been the position for some time. I suggested that a parliamentary question might be more effective than anything else in getting something done.
(Dublin South-Central): Services are being improved generally all over the country.
Is the Minister aware that services are not being improved generally all over the country and have deteriorated very badly in the area to which I have referred? Quite a number of people are awaiting service who cannot possibly get it because existing subscribers are not getting the service for which they are paying.
This is argument.
(Dublin South-Central): Summerhill and the other places mentioned are doing quite well.
They might be doing well now but that was not the case a couple of weeks ago. A parliamentary question has always been very effective.
20.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if it is technically possible to provide telephone service for residents in Rosemount Court, Dundrum, Dublin 14; the number of inquiries received from tenants in the flats; and, if so, when service will be provided.
(Dublin South-Central): Service cannot be provided until the necessary cabling works are completed in the first half of next year. There are four applications for service.
21.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will make a statement on the state of the telephone service in Donegal.
22.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if, in view of the appalling inadequacy of the telephone service in Donegal and other western counties, he will institute a crash programme of improvement as a priority.
(Dublin South-Central): I propose, with the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, to take Questions Nos. 21 and 22 together.
I am aware that the standard of service in Donegal and in some other western counties has been unsatisfactory. Several schemes designed to improve substantially the service in these areas are, however, in progress and at the advanced planning stage. For example, Letterkenny exchange was converted to automatic working on 24 October. It is planned to convert progressively 44 other manual exchanges in County Donegal to automatic working over the period to the end of 1981 and conversion of the remaining 22 exchanges in the county will follow over a period of about two years afterwards.
Work on the provision of a new key trunk exchange at Sligo is also in progress and the exchange is expected to be available in 1982. A new microwave link between Dublin and Sligo and Letterkenny is also being installed at present and should be ready for service in mid-1980. When the link is in service the capacity of the existing co-axial cable between Dublin and Sligo will be increased from 960 to 2,700 circuits. The provision of the link and the increased capacity of the co-axial cable to Sligo will not only lead to a much better trunk service in normal course but will also enable satisfactory communication to be maintained should either the co-axial cable or the microwave link be out of order for any reason. These three schemes will raise substantially the standard of service in the north-west generally. In addition, 20 other schemes to improve the trunk service in County Donegal are also in progress or planned.
There are many other improvement schemes in progress and planned in the north-west and west but the few examples I have given will serve to show what is being done to raise the standard of service in these areas. The Deputy is, I am sure, aware that the Government have approved an accelerated telephone development programme costing £650 million to provide a high quality of telephone service nationally over a period of about five years. Action to implement this programme is already being taken and it will be pressed forward in every way possible.
23.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the number of applications received for telephones in each year from 1973 to date.
(Dublin South-Central): The numbers are 41,000, 39,000, 37,000, 36,000, 44,000, 58,000 and 33,000 respectively.
How many of these applicants have succeeded in obtaining installations?
That is a separate question but the Minister may answer it if he has the relevant information.
(Dublin South-Central): I gather the Deputy wants a list giving the number of connections and I do not have that information.
Has the Minister the information in respect of any of these years? If not, perhaps he would send it to me.
(Dublin South-Central): I will arrange to have the information sent to the Deputy.
The last figure mentioned was 33,000. To which year does this apply?
(Dublin South-Central): The question refers to the number of applications received to date. The last number is in respect of those received to date.
Are the bulk of the applications from Dublin?
(Dublin South-Central): More than 50 per cent are from the Dublin area.
Is there any special plan for the Dublin region?
(Dublin South-Central): Yes, there is a special plan with regard to cabling and so on.
Is the Minister clear on what each year means? Does it mean from 1 January to 31 December?
(Dublin South-Central): It does. In respect of 1979, by the end of September the number was 33,000.
In his replies the Minister indicated there was a boom in telephone applications due to some economic improvements allegedly brought about by the Government. If the figure of 33,000 is in respect of ten months, that is an indication of a downturn if the Minister uses the argument he applied earlier.
(Dublin South-Central): Our projections at the start of the year were for about 55,000 connections but, due to problems of which the Deputy is fully aware which occurred in the past 18 months, we did not achieve the figure. However, we have projections in respect of this matter and we will achieve them.
The Minister did not make any such qualification earlier. Is he suggesting that in the two months remaining in this year there will be something in the order of 26,000 or 28,000 applications?
(Dublin South-Central): I am not saying we are going to achieve our projections. I am saying that that was our projection at the start of the year.
If the Government are not going to achieve that figure, what is the point of talking about it?
Have the Government a special plan in relation to installations in the Dublin area?
(Dublin South-Central): We are going to push ahead. We are recruiting many technicians and joiners in the Department at this time.
24.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the number of applications received from old age pensioners for free telephones from 1977 to date, the number installed since 1977 and the number of applications pending.
(Dublin South-Central): The numbers are 6,700, 1,700 and 5,000.
Will the Minister state if there will be any revision of the terms governing the scheme for old age pensioners? Is he aware that a number of pensioners who would like to have a telephone installed are not in a position financially to pay for its installation? Is there any revision in connection with this matter?
(Dublin South-Central): That would be a matter for the Department of Social Welfare. If they send the applications to us and are prepared to pay the cost, we will install the telephones. It is entirely a matter for them.
I am suggesting to the Minister that many more pensioners would avail of the scheme if the cost of installation was looked after. As a matter of priority, will he discuss this matter with his counterpart in the Department of Social Welfare?
(Dublin South-Central): It is not really a matter for the Department of Posts and Telegraphs but for the Department of Social Welfare.
25.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when premises in Strokestown, County Roscommon, will be connected to the telex exchange.
(Dublin South-Central): The only waiting application on record for telex service in Strokestown is from a firm that already has telex service but requires an additional telex line which will be provided in a month or so.
26.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when the cables will be laid to provide telephone services to Broadford Rise, Ballinteer, Dublin 16.
(Dublin South-Central): It is expected that the necessary cabling work will be completed in the first half of next year. Provision of service for waiting applicants in this area is, however, also dependent on the availability of the necessary exchange equipment which, I regret, is not expected until early in 1981.
27.
andMr. R. Barry asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when it is proposed to repair the five vandalised telephone kiosks in Cobh, County Cork.
(Dublin South-Central): Within the next fortnight.
28.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when the telephone kiosk on Ballinteer Avenue, Dublin 16, will be removed to the other side of the road, as was agreed 18 months ago.
(Dublin South-Central): The local authority did not consent to the new site selected for this kiosk. An alternative site was selected and the local authority consent to this site is awaited. Provision of the kiosk will be put in hands immediately consent to the site is obtained.
29.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when the public telephone kiosks in Limerick city will be repaired and made operational; the plans, if any, to make the kiosks vandalproof and the cost of repairing vandalised telephone kiosks for the past 12 months.
(Dublin South-Central): It is expected that they will all be repaired within the next three weeks.
It is not possible to make kiosks vandal-proof but the Department have taken all measures practicable over the years to reduce their liability to damage. These include reinforcing the coinboxes, replacing glass by special strengthened plastic and improving the lights in the kiosks. In addition, 200 specially strengthened coinboxes were brought into service and 1,000 new type coinboxes, which include a number of features designed to prevent theft and damage by vandalism, are expected to be brought into service early next year. More of these coinboxes will be supplied later. Ways of combating damage by vandalism are kept under continuous review.
The actual cost of repairing kiosks damaged over the last 12 months is not readily available but is estimated to be about £150,000.
In the context of the review to which the Minister has referred, perhaps he would look at the systems of telephone kiosks in a number of continental countries, particularly France, where the siting and the actual structure of the kiosks tend to make it extremely difficult to have any damage done to them.
(Dublin South-Central): I can assure the Deputy that my Department are keeping this matter under continuous review, but I shall bring the Deputy's remarks to the attention of my Department. However, he can be assured that this matter is under continuous review in an effort to reduce the vandalism which is taking place on an extensive scale throughout the city and indeed throughout the country.
30.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when the cables will be laid to provide telephone services to (a) Corbawn, Shankill; (b) Rathsallagh, Shankill; (c) Moreen, Sandyford; (d) Wedgewood, Sandyford; (e) Balawley, Sandyford; and (f) Grange Valley, Rathfarnham, in County Dublin.
(Dublin South-Central): The necessary cabling is expected to be completed in the Moreen, Balawley and Grange Valley areas in the next six months or so, and in the Corbawn, Rathsallagh and Wedgewood areas in the second half of 1980.
Service will be provided for waiting applicants in Moreen, Rathsallagh, Corbawn and Wedgewood areas following completion of cabling but in the case of applicants in Balawley and Grange Wood provision of service for most applicants is also dependent on the installation of additional exchange equipment which is not expected until early in 1981.
Will the Minister consider as a temporary measure installing a telephone kiosk in each of the areas referred to?
(Dublin South-Central): I cannot give the Deputy an undertaking on this matter at this time but I will ask the Department to have a look at it.
The areas in question are very isolated and the people have no communication with the Garda Síochána in the event of burglaries or other emergencies.
(Dublin South-Central): I have noted the Deputy's request and I will ask the Department to have a look at it.
31.
asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when the remaining jointing work will be completed at Grange Wood, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16, and when the applications for telephone service will be met.
(Dublin South-Central): The jointing work is due to be completed within the next six months or so following which it is expected service will be offered to most of the waiting applicants. The remaining applications will be met when the necessary additional exchange equipment becomes available early in 1981.
