asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he is aware that no reply could be obtained from his Department's telephone number on Thursday, 5 March 1981 and that very often the number is not answered; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

The telephone number referred to by the Deputy is the number of my Department's main headquarters building at Áras Mhic Dhiarmada, Store Street, Dublin 1.

I am aware of the difficulty in getting through to that number due to the very high volume of incoming calls. There are 40 lines on the switchboard reserved for incoming calls. When the level of calls is consistently high, the switchboard becomes overloaded and may develop a fault whereby calls will not register on the switchboard although the caller may hear a ringing tone.

The solution to the problem is the installation of a new extended switchboard which my Department have on order from the Department of Posts and Telegraphs.