I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak on this very sensitive Bill which would, in essence, enable Telecom Éireann to develop to meet the challenges of the future while at the same time provide the public with an option in so far as telephone charges are concerned. I do not understand why the Minister and Telecom Éireann run scared at any suggestion of competition — they have done this both last week and this week. If Telecom Éireann is as technically advanced as we are told, it should not have much to worry about in terms of competition.
Telecom Éireann is a valuable component part of Ireland's economic and social activity. A modern vibrant economy cannot perform to its full potential if it does not have a highly sophisticated telecommunications network. I want to give credit where it is due and to criticise where appropriate. Telecom Éireann possesses a core of highly motivated and trained staff both at engineering and administrative level. The vast sum of taxpayers' money which has been pumped into Telecom Éireann by successive Governments for over 20 years has paved the way for a good technical foundation for the company which, in turn, will provide a sound telephone and fax service both within and outside the State.
Telecom Éireann used its commercial acumen to build on this huge State investment when it took over control of this area from the Department in 1983. There has been a profound improvement in the service since then. This is something we should tell the world. I can find no fault whatever with our telephone service. However, like many other companies in a similar position, I detect an air of arrogance in Telecom Éireann towards many of its customers. This is due to its monopoly position. I am referring to a time even before the rebalancing act in regard to telephone charges. I believe Telecom Éireann adopted a very arrogant attitude towards many of its customers. I have had first hand experience of Telecom Éireann customers, many of whom are elderly and live alone, who for one reason or another did not pay their bills by a particular date. I should say that everyone has a responsibility to pay for a service they have received. I am not making a case for not paying one's bills but on many occasions, for one reason or another, people were unable to do so on time and they were not given a second chance.
I am aware of small businesses whose services were disconnected for the slightest delay in payment and hefty re-connection charges were imposed. On some occasions those re-connection charges amounted to £135. It is my understanding that there is almost no cost involved to Telecom Éireann to reconnect a customer. Would Telecom Éireann act in that way if there was another company selling a telephone service?
I have no doubt whatever that thousands of people have received a huge bill at one time or another for no apparent reason and which was not similar to any of those for other billing periods. We are told that Telecom Éireann is always available to discuss this problem but the constituents I represent have received scant attention from the company. If there was another company in competition with Telecom Éireann, that would all change. I have seen it happen many times in other businesses. The customer deserves a better service.
Monopolies are dangerous and in this instance there is a great responsibility placed on the shoulders of the Minister and senior mangement of the company to treat customers with dignity and respect, taking into account their individual problems. It is almost impossible to keep companies in touch with the realities of the market place without competition.
The latest re-balancing act is quite a conjurer's trick. I do not believe that the fall-off in telephone usage will be maintained and I predict a return to a much higher telephone usage very shortly. Telecom Éireann customers were frightened by the severity of the increase in local call charges during day time hours. For many categories of telephone users, including self-employed people such as garage owners, insurance brokers, shop keepers and a host of other service industries, the charges will prove very costly indeed. This important category of our business sector deserves better treatment. Irrespective of Telecom Éireann public relations propaganda to the contrary, the vast majority of calls must be made in office hours and, therefore, the costs will rise.
However, the hardest hit of all are the elderly and the people who live alone. The elderly should not be denied the right to speak to their family members or friends during office hours from Monday to Friday. That is a terrible sentence to impose on the elderly having regard to their contribution to Irish society. In effect, they are now classified as second class citizens and are essentially debarred from making calls during the day. They have to wait until the evening or Saturday or Sunday to speak to their loved ones and those who are worried about them.
Telecom Éireann, and the Minister in particular, should be ashamed of themselves in regard to this issue. This evening I have received almost 50 signatures from three small senior citizens groups in north Galway who meet on a weekly basis. They implored me to register their protest on the record of this House. My understanding is that there are many more such groups, not only in my constituency but all over Ireland, who genuinely believe that they will be required to pay much higher costs. Why should they not believe this if the cost of local calls during normal business hours is quadrupled? If they are to avail of the same telephone contact with their families as they have had heretofore, the outcome will be a huge increase in their telephone bills. I want to ensure that the Minister and Telecom Éireann understand the plight of the people whose signatures I have received.
I do not want Telecom Éireann taken out of public ownership. This Bill has nothing whatever to do with privatisation and it is disingenuous of people to claim otherwise. We want to allow competition. When the private road hauliers came into operation people said that CIE would go to the wall, but we have never had a better system. I understand that because of the competition the various sections that now make up what was know as CIE are much more cost effective. They are carrying more passengers and are generally believed to be doing a very good job. That is the parallel to which I am referring and it has nothing to do with privatisation.
I wish to refer briefly to the users group that has been set up by the Minister. I do not doubt the honesty and integrity of the people involved. They are all people who have been successful in the public and private sectors. However, as a group it is absolutely toothless because all it can do is regurgitate the information they receive from Telecom Éireann and pass it on to the public. At the end of the day, we will be no better off and that is why the independence of the Minister, the Department and Telecom, to which Deputy Noonan referred, will be in the interests of every telephone consumer.
I confirm the statement by my colleague, Deputy Kitt, that in east Galway, one is required to have three telephone books to cover that constituency because of the the different area codes. I do not know the answer to that problem but one would need a library to accommodate telephone books for one's constituency. This problem should be addressed. Because Galway city is our administrative centre, everything is based there. Our council headquarters, health board offices and all our other services are situated there and the people of the county are entitled to ring Galway city for the cost of a local call. I hope Telecom Éireann will implement that.
I hope the day will come when we will have competition in regard to telephone services. Most people do not like competition when they are in situ but the evidence from a variety of other sectors of Irish society has proved that competition is the life of trade. It was never more appropriate than it is now. I cannot understand the fear of competition, both in Telecom Éireann and in the Government parties. Competition will not happen overnight; we must work progressively along that road. A policy that might be accepted now for the future may not in fact be put in place for perhaps three, four or five years.
At the end of the day, as Deputy Ahearn said, if Telecom Éireann and the Government fail to recognise the problem, we shall have another Aer Lingus débâcle on our hands in a couple of years' time. Who will we be able to blame then? Must we go through the same trauma being experienced at Dublin Airport at present? Obviously, the Minister, Telecom Éireann and planners must know exactly what we are endeavouring to do through the introduction of this Private Members' Bill. I know there is no possibility of its getting a Second Reading here this evening because this Government can do what it likes with its huge voting majority. It can do what it likes, when it likes, how it likes and obviously will do so this evening. But if we shall have done nothing else in Fine Gael, we shall have warned them that there is a better way. Members should think twice before voting against the Second Reading here this evening.