asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the number of telephone applications still outstanding in respect of the Greencastle area, County Donegal; and when automatic service will be provided there.

The number is 45. It is expected that the exchange will be converted to automatic working in late 1982.

Questions Nos. 17 and 18 are for written reply.

19.

asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will arrange to have a telephone service provided for a person (details supplied) in County Tipperary.

20.

asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will arrange to have a telephone service installed for a person (details supplied) in County Tipperary.

With the permission of the Ceann Chomhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 19 and 20 together.

It is expected that service will be provided to each of these applicants within the next few weeks or so.

Is the Minister aware that the pole work in connection with the application referred to in Question No. 19 was done six weeks ago? Is he aware that the applicant received a letter recently from the Department indicating that in view of the fact that work cannot be completed the Department were in a position to offer a refund of the money paid?

I accept that. We had a problem because of a shortage of a specific type of cable. We found it difficult to get that cable and we are sorry that situation arose but it was outside our control. Cartels deal with the supply of that cable. We have found some since and this is being used.

May I take it that the applicants referred to in Questions Nos. 19 and 20 will be facilitated by the end of March?

Yes, give or take a day or two.

But the Minister will try to have the service provided by the end of March?

The matter is being given immediate attention. I do not deal in probabilities and it is not fair to pin me down to a specific date. I will do my utmost to have the service provided as soon as is possible and I expect that to be within three to four weeks. The Deputy may take my word for that.

21.

asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will arrange to have a telephone service installed for a person (details supplied) in County Tipperary.

The person concerned applied for service in February 1981. It is expected that service will be provided within the next four months or so.

There seems to be some confusion here. The person referred to in Question No. 21 paid £275 to the Department in August 1980. The Minister seems to have got the wires crossed. The person I am referring to is a Brian Joyce of Skehana, Shanakill, Roscrea.

Perhaps both the Deputy and I have the wires crossed because the person to whom I am relating this reply may not be the person named specifically in the question. The details the Deputy has given now are not those in the question before me. I do not wish to give the information regarding these details since it is private but there are involved three separate individuals each bearing the same name.

The three applicants from the area concerned forwarded similar amounts to the Department in the same month.

There are only two applicants concerned.

In that case one person's money must have gone astray.

I doubt that. It is very seldom that that happens. Since there seems to be some confusion I shall have the matter looked into again.

22.

asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when the new telephone exchanges or extensions to the existing exchanges will be in service in the following areas in County Cork: Quaker Road, Douglas, Ballincollig, Carrigaline, Dennehy's Cross, Glenbrook, Riverstick and Crosshaven; and the number of additional subscribers to be served by those during the current year.

As the answer is in tabular form I propose, with the permission of the Ceann Comhairle to circulate it with the Official Report:

The Minister deserves to be congratulated on the information he is giving us today.

Has the Deputy a question?

Would the Minister be prepared to consider the use of new technology in order to help the engineers in Cork, among whom he has engendered such enthusiasm, by way of subscriber carrier systems which would be of benefit in areas where there may be a shortage of cabling?

By agreement with the IPOU we are using in most places the new subscriber carrier lines which range from two to 70 extra telephones and we are getting a much higher quantity than that from the two wires leading into one exchange. A trial run in Galway city in this respect is proving tremendously successful.

I doubt that.

It is hoped to extend the idea throughout the country.

I think I should second the proposal of Deputy Cogan in regard to congratulating the Minister.

23.

asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs whether he is aware of the need for a telephone kiosk at Slip, Bantry, County Cork; and if he will arrange for the provision of a kiosk.

The use likely to be made of a telephone kiosk at that location would not be sufficient to warrant its provision and it is not proposed therefore to provide one there.

Would the Minister accept that there have been a number of requests for kiosk facilities in different parts of the town of Bantry but that all of these appear to have been rejected? In the light of the Minister's promises to provide an excellent telephone service and having regard to the many problems that Bantry has been experiencing, is there any liklihood of some extra facility so far as the telephone service is concerned?

I should like to correct Deputy O'Keeffe in one respect, that is, that I am not merely promising but that I am dealing in fact. The people of the area will be provided with a unique telephone service as a result of the digital equipment.

Public telephone facilities are needed in the town for those who do not have private telephones.

I am aware of the confusion that exists in West Cork so far as Fine Gael are concerned. Only recently the party leader met the same deputation twice.

The Minister has got his lines crossed on that one, too.

I heard that one meeting was in the school while the other was in a pub but that in any event the party leader met the same people twice without realising this to be the case.

Order.

The point is that there have been a number of requests for telephone kiosks in Bantry, a town that has suffered a good deal in recent times, and I am asking the Minister to investigate the possibility of the provision of a number of kiosks in different parts of the town, whether at Slip, Bishop Lucey Place or elsewhere.

Every request made is investigated but there are already four kiosks in Bantry and not one of these is providing the necessary remuneration.

The problem is that the Department are trying to take in too much money from the telephone service.

We are not a benevolent society.

24.

asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when an automatic telephone service will be provided for Lettermacaward, Dungloe and Burtonport areas in County Donegal.

In the second half of 1982.