asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the waiting list for telephone service in 1973, 1974, 1975 and 1976.

The approximate number of waiting applications at 31st December in each of the years in question was: 1973, 33,000; 1974, 42,000; 1975, 42,600; 1976, 40,000.

15.

asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the number of applications for telephone service received in each of the last four years by his Department.

About 41,000 in 1973, 39,000 in 1974, 37,000 in 1975 and 36,000 in 1976.

Could the Minister comment on the fact that the numbers he has indicated show that at no time did the number of new connections match the demand? The backlog must be increasing each year. Would the Minister see to it that those who want telephones at least will have them dealt with year by year?

The most succinct way I can answer that question is to supply the Deputy with figures for demand and connections in 1972 and 1976. In 1972 the demand was 32,000 and connections were 25,600, running, that is to say, not far from 7,000 below demand. In 1976 the demand was 36,000 and connections were 38,700. In that year for the first time in many years the rate of connections topped the rate of demand.

Would the Minister comment on the fact that usually an increase in the number of telephones each year is looked upon as an indication of increasing affluence and that the number of telephones has decreased apparently in the last year?

I am delighted that the Deputy has asked that question. It is quite true that in that period, 1974 to 1976, the fall in the rate of telephone demand was an index of the effects of the world depression setting in in the year 1974 on Ireland. However, in 1976 there was something of a turning. I will give the House the comparative statistics for the different quarters of 1975-76. First, let me give the 1976 figures: first quarter 7,500; second quarter 8,450; third quarter 9,150; fourth quarter 10,900. The improved demand is reflected also in the small part of the present year which has gone by. It was 4,100 in January, 1977, as against 3,500 in January, 1976. In the fourth quarter of 1976 the figure as compared with the corresponding quarter of 1975 was higher for the first time. In 1975 it was 10,650, in 1976 it was 10,900, so the indications are that demand having gone down for some time then flattened out, is now rising again. I would agree with the Deputy that telephone demand is quite a sensitive index of how business is looking and feeling. This index, together with other indices, bears out the diagnosis of the Minister for Finance that in 1976 we started emerging from the recession.

16.