asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when it is anticipated that telephones will be available on demand to telephone applicants in the Dublin area.

It is possible at present to meet on demand about one-third of the applications received in Dublin. It is expected that this proportion will increase gradually until about the end of 1984 by which time it should be possible to meet applications generally in this way.

Can the Minister confirm that telephone applicants living in the Dublin south area generally stretching from Kilmacud to Stillorgan, Dundrum, Ballyboden, Ballinteer, Rathfarnham and Firhouse in County Dublin, will have telephones made available to them on request, on demand, no later than the end of 1984? Further, can he confirm that all outstanding telephone applicants in those areas will be provided with a telephone service no later than the end of 1984?

It is hoped that that will be the position, but the Deputy is aware that, due possibly to abnormal weather conditions and the fact that we have a strike on at the moment by one of the suppliers, the development programme in Dublin may be delayed, as may be the case in the rest of the country also. One cannot anticipate exactly what the situation will be at the end of 1984, but what I have stated is the aim.

Is the Minister aware that a large number of telephone applicants within the area I have referred to have been awaiting supply of telephones for between three and five years? Can he confirm that at the very least their applications will be met? Also, can be advise the House as to the exact nature of the strike taking place and its impact?

I will be dealing with the strike in reply to a question later.

Is any special provision made to ensure that industrialists investing in industrial units are provided with information as to when telephones will be made available? Is there any co-ordination between the IDA and his Department to ensure that industrialists are provided with telephones? I want to refer to the application of Unit 16, East Wall Road, an IDA factory, which is waiting for a telephone and cannot begin to employ 40 people who are on the unemployment queue waiting to get jobs. Jobs have been provided, the applications have been processed and the factory is waiting to get a telephone in order that those people can be taken off the dole queue. Is there any co-ordination between the IDA and the Minister's Department to ensure that when employment is given a telephone will be provided?

That seems to be an entirely different question.

I am not aware of the case to which Deputy Andrews refers, but the Department treat cases of that nature with priority. Whatever concern the Deputy may have for the case he is talking about, we share that concern not for that alone but for many others who may be in a similar position.

I have one final question. I appreciate what the Minister says——

The Deputy is dealing with a different matter.

It is related to the question that Deputy Shatter was dealing with.

It is not. It is a different matter.

Deputy Shatter was dealing with his constituency and my constituency and I am glad that he raised the question.

I am taking care of the Deputy's constituents and mine.

Sometimes he does that and I am glad that he is doing a little of it today. This company at Unit 16, East Wall Road, have for six months been trying to get information through the IDA——

That is a totally different question.

——and the IDA through the Minister's Department as to when a telephone will be provided. Forty people are waiting to be taken off the dole queues and the Minister does not appear to be doing anything about it.

The question on the Order Paper is a general question and Deputy Andrews's question is a specific question. I am calling Deputy Wallace and I tell him now that this is a question about Dublin. I am not preventing Deputy Wallace from putting a question about Dublin. Do you understand me?

May I answer the query raised by Deputy Andrews? If he gives me details of the case in question I will give it my personal attention.

I thank the Minister.

Will the Minister state whether there are large numbers of cancellations of applications for telephones because of the high cost involved?

That is a different question.

It is relevant. Is there a cancellation list because of the high cost involved? Also have people with telephones requested that they be removed because of the cost?

I would advise you to put down a question about that.

I have only one supplementary question.

I hope it is related to this one.

Did I hear the Minister state that telephones may not be available on demand in 1984?

It is our hope that they will be available on demand.

Hope is right.

Is the Minister aware that to numerous questions put to him I have received replies, which I put to my constituents, that they would have telephones installed in 1984?

That is our aim.

14.

asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will establish a proper information system whereby members of the general public can obtain speedy and accurate information on matters relating to the telephone service.

The need for an effective, speedy information system is fully recognised and numbers of measures designed to produce this have been and are being taken.

Outside Dublin it is possible now to get information promptly from the district sales offices on when most telephone applications will be met. In the Dublin area, it is expected that it will be possible to get information quickly too when a computerised system of recording the position in regard to applications for service is implemented shortly and when the programming of work for next year is completed.

In general, there is no difficulty in provincial districts in getting information in regard to when repairs will be carried out. In Dublin, the prime requirement is to reduce the time taken to repair faults, but as part of the programme for this, four new repair centres are to be provided. These will enable information to be provided more readily on the fault position. The first of these is being introduced at present and the others are expected to be in service in the course of the next year.

Information on telephone accounts can be obtained speedily from the GPO headquarters except perhaps at peak account times, quarterly, or where lines and associated apparatus have to be tested before inquiries can be replied to. It is proposed to decentralise much of the telephone billing inquiry work to provincial sales offices and a start is being made having account inquiries dealt with in Cork shortly. This should have a generally beneficial effect. Restoration of confidence in the billing system would result in a greatly reduced volume of inquiries and enable information to be supplied more promptly. I expect that action being taken will have this effect.

Is the Minister aware that people living in Dublin, and in particular in South Dublin, seeking information direct from the Department as to when telephones will be supplied or repairs carried out find it almost impossible to get any information whatsoever? Equally, it often happens that people seeking such information get contradictory reports from different people in his Department. Can the Minister say when in the Dublin area, and in particular in South Dublin, people applying for information will be able to apply direct to the Department and get speedy information, without the necessity of going through Members of this House. Could the Minister also clarify what the position will be with relation to seeking such information after Bord Telecom assume their responsibilities on 1 January next?

If the four new repair centres were in operation, it might lighten the amount of work coming on me with regard to queries. For the information of the Deputy, the four new centres are: Belcamp which deals with Dublin North East and was brought into operation on 10 October; Phibsborough to deal with Dublin North West; Terenure for Dublin South West; Stillorgan, Priory Park for Dublin South East. In these cases tenders for the equipment for these centres were received from the contractors at the end of October. In the not too distant future services will be available in these areas and the queries will not have to go through the channel referred to.

Would the Minister consider, in the short-term, allocating further staff to the query section of his Department? The staff there are doing trojan work and are practically martyrs. I have had experience of taking some of the telephone calls in that section and, naturally, the public who have problems with their telephones are quite disappointed and dissatisfied. The staff are doing great work in difficult circumstances. In the short-term, before these new improvements take place, would the Minister consider putting extra staff at the disposal of the public?

Not at the moment.

15.

asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the reason for the undue delay experienced by telephone users in the Dublin area in having service restored when it breaks down; and if he will take steps to remedy the situation.

Most telephone faults in the Dublin area are cleared within 2 working days after the fault is reported. There is delay in restoring service normally only when the fault is in the underground cable serving the telephone. These represent about 30 per cent of all faults. The time taken to clear these faults depends on the nature of the fault, the condition of the cables affected and the availability of skilled staff. Action taken this year has resulted in the time taken to restore service being greatly reduced, but the position is, I regret, still not as satisfactory as it should be, or as I would like it to be. It should improve further gradually according as measures in hands, such as preventive maintenance, pressurisation of cables and improved organisation of the work, bear fruit.

16.

asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the reason a telephone bill in the sum of £1,195.56 was forwarded to a person (details supplied) in Dublin 14 in respect of an account dated 5 May 1982 which related to an alleged usage of 15,786 units when the average number of telephone units used by this person over the preceeding 10 years was between 600 and 1,000 units; the reason the bill was addressed to a business (details supplied) when no such business operates from this address; the reason the telephone user was advised by his Department on 29 March 1983 that there are no good grounds for reducing the charge; and if a special investigation will be undertaken into this matter and an accurate bill forwarded to the person concerned.

The account in question covered the recorded user on the subscriber's meter. The bill which was issued by computer, was addressed to the subscriber by name, followed by an abbreviation of "Trading as Irish Supermarket Services". The subscriber was advised that there were no good grounds for reducing the charges because the meter and associated equipment were found to be in good order when checked.

However, I am having the matter further investigated in view of the unusually large increase in the recorded user and I shall communicate with the Deputy about the case.

The Minister is aware that the bill sent to the person concerned in this question came to approximately £1,120. That bears no relation to the amount charged by way of previous bills. Would the Minister consider expediting his Department's investigation into this matter on the basis that this question was first tabled by me in May of this year? I also wrote to the Minister's Department in that month and 23 May was told by letter that inquiries were being made into that matter. It is a matter of real concern to the girl referred to in the question.

I am aware of all the facts surrounding this case. One must sympathise with the subscriber because of the extremely large increase in the usage of units from 1 January 1981 to approximately the end of March 1981. As I said, we are having the matter reviewed and it is to be hoped that that review will turn out satisfactorily for the person named and for the Deputy.

Could I ask the Minister——

This question deals with one specific account, Deputy.

I seem to be the only Deputy being refused. I am asking to be allowed to ask a supplementary question.

If the Deputy would just bear with me for a moment, Question No. 16 deals with the account of a named person and gives many details about her.

I am trying to save the House time.

Unless, of course, the Deputy is going to ask a question concerning the same account, when it would be in order.

We were speaking about saving time in the House. If I could ask a supplementary question, we might do that. Are there any plans to deal with the very unsatisfactory situation with regard to accounts sent out by the Minister's Department? Any time I ever made representations on behalf of a constituent, his Department were always right and no account was changed. This is most unsatisfactory. A person cannot find out exactly the number of calls billed. One old age pensioner was supposed to have made 1,460 calls in a three-month period.

I cannot allow a question on anything. That is a statement.

That is a factual situation. It is a fair supplementary question.

The man would be dead by the end of it.

I am not aware of the particular account to which the Deputy referred. Not all accounts sent out by the Department are as accurate as the Department would wish. On occasion, on investigation an account is reduced.

Not on that occasion.

17.

asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the effect the present strike by 183 field staff employed by a company (details supplied) is having on the installation of automatic exchanges throughout the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

The overall effect is, regrettably, to delay planned improvements in the telephone service such as conversion of manual exchanges to automatic working, replacement of obsolescent equipment, relief of congestion and provision of new exchanges to cater for new subscribers and more traffic. At present, the installation and commissioning of over 100 automatic exchanges are affected. Pending a settlement of the strike, it is not possible to assess how long it will take to clear the backlog and what the impact may be on exchange projects not yet due to start in normal course. When the strike is settled, the contractor will be pressed to recover as much as possible of the ground lost, but it will obviously not be possible to recover the ground fully in the short term.

I understand that the machinery available for resolution of the dispute is being availed of by both parties.

Will the Minister name the telephone regions covered by that strike? Is it confined to the western region or does it affect other regions?

It affects all regions where the developing programme is in progress for the installation of new equipment. The programme is, generally, in progress throughout the country. The strike affects Dublin more than other areas. It affects the Waterford trunk and local exchanges and in Dublin it affects the Crown Alley local exchange, Dolphin's Barn local exchange, Swords, Clondalkin, Palmerstown, Lucan and Cabra.

It does not affect the Drogheda area?

I do not have any information to that effect.

They had a problem in that area.

It is possible that it had some affect. A total of 100 exchanges are affected and I only mentioned a few of them.

Will the Minister have a look at Lough Gowna and Finea where the buildings have been erected?

I will do that.

I assume that the strike is in the factory in Dublin, Ericsson?

Yes.

In the circumstances will the Minister consider approaching the Minister for Labour and asking him to intervene in this dispute which has been going on for 12 weeks?

It has been going on since 8 August.

Is the Minister taking any steps to resolve this matter, because there are serious issues involved. I assume the Minister received representations from the employees concerned. Would the Minister request the Minister for Labour to intervene in this dispute because a serious situation is developing and it appears that it is being ignored by the Department.

The Deputy cannot pursue every hare raised by way of supplementary.

This is a serious matter which affects many employees.

If so the Deputy should put down a question about it.

The question on the Order Paper is adequate. Will the Minister approach the Minister for Labour and ask him to intervene?

The machinery available for the resolution of the dispute is being used by both parties.

It is not being used.

18.

asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the reason the south east area of County Galway is not being connected to the 091 or the 0905 code area as all these small local exchanges are being converted to automatic; and the date on which the conversion will take place.

The linking of the south east area of County Galway i.e. the Portumna group of exchanges with the Galway or the Ballinasloe code areas could not be justified on the normal criteria of efficiency and cost. Subscribers in the area will suffer no disadvantage through being linked with the Birr code area as is planned.

The general conversion programme has suffered a set-back through an industrial dispute involving employees of an equipment contractor. However, every effort will be made to effect the conversion of Portumna and the other manual exchanges in south east Galway during the second half of next year.

The Minister of State, who represented that part of Galway for a long time, must be well acquainted with its geography. Will he agree that it is natural for these people to carry on business and have their communications with Ballinasloe, Loughrea and Galway city, areas covered by the codes 0905 and 091?

Will the Minister give an assurance that those living outside those areas will not have to pay extra charges for a local call to the Ballinasloe, Loughrea or Galway areas? They are living nearer to those centres than the area they will be connected to.

The linking of the Portumna group with the Galway or Ballinasloe areas could not be justified on the basis of the normal criteria of efficiency and cost. In fact, it will not make any difference by way of cost to the subscribers when they are linked to Birr.

Is the Minister saying that the local call charge will be available to them even though they are going to another code area?

I am not sure of that. I would not like to commit myself.

With the advancements we have had in telecommunications there should not be any reason why these areas cannot be connected to either Ballinasloe or Galway. Is the Minister aware that there were plans for a special connection in Loughrea and that would have taken place but for the strike that is in progress? The area of ground is available and it would have taken a small amount of time and technical expertise to connect another automatic exchange to cover the areas mentioned in the Portumna district. Will the Minister make special representations to have the Portumna area connected to Loughrea or Ballinasloe?

I am sure the Deputy is familiar with the geography of the area but if he is not, I will give him a run-down on it. It is more suitable to have the exchanges we are talking about connected to Birr than to Ballinasloe or Galway.

The reason they are being connected to Birr is that the old manual system which operates at present is connected to Birr. Is that why the Department produced these plans?

I do not agree. I have already answered that question.

I should like to ask a supplementary question as a result of the reply given to Deputy Wilson.

This is a private question between two Galway Members.

I represent part of Galway.

The areas under discussion are a bit far away from the Deputy's area.

It is possible that the Deputy has his eyes on Europe.

He is doing a good job.

Will the Minister reconsider the decision in the light of the point made by Deputy Wilson?

There is no point in saying I will reconsider it because the decision has been made and I have outlined what will happen.

Does the Minister agree with the point raised by Deputy Wilson, that the cost for subscribers should not be any greater than if they had a Galway number.

Perhaps the Deputy should follow on and say that we should give them a free telephone service because that would be the most worthy thing in the world.

The Minister should look into this matter.

19.

asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the reasons for the inordinate delays in connecting telephones to new subscribers throughout the country over the past year; if he proposes to make any refund on the interest foregone by these people on their money; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

In the vast majority of cases telephone service is provided within about two to three months after the advance payment has been collected.

Unfortunately in some cases it has not been possible to provide service within the normal time scale because of pressure of other urgent work and the need to divert staff to maintenance work.

Offers to refund advance payment are made when it is not possible to provide service within the three-month period or a little after that. It is not proposed to make any payment in respect of interest.

No reason has been given for the delays except that staff had to be deployed for maintenance work and I should like to know what effect the closing down of the Telectron factory and the current strike at Ericssons is having on the connecting of telephones throughout the country?

The strike, which I have already dealt with has no direct connection to the provision of telephones for individuals.

If the Department stuck to the fibre optics we would have less trouble with maintenance and cables.

Is it true that once an applicant pays the connection charges and advance rent and signs a contract there is a statutory obligation on the Department to connect him to the service within three months?

I cannot say that there is a statutory obligation on the Department but the Department endeavour to make the connections as soon as possible. If that extends over three months an offer of a refund of the money is made to the applicant.

What steps are the Department taking to make allowances to those who have waited 18 months for a connection?

It is not proposed to make any payment in respect of interest they may seek on money paid to the Department regardless of how long they have to wait for the service.

We are hearing the same old excuse. There has not been any change in it for years.

20.

asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the reason a telephone service has not been provided for a person (details supplied) in Dublin 11 when others on the same road who applied later have received service.

It is regretted that it has not been possible to provide telephone service for the person named so far pending the availability of a suitable cable pair. A suitable cable is now available and terms have been quoted to the person named. Service will be provided within about three months after the necessary agreement has been signed.

Service was provided for some other applicants on the same road for whom suitable cable pairs were available.

The remaining questions will appear on next Tuesday's Order Paper.