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.