asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when a telephone service will be provided for a person (details supplied) in Dublin 11 as the reply to a previous parliamentary question in July 1982 stated that service would be provided in about one year.

I appreciate fully the frustration felt at the delay in providing telephones. Regrettably, however, it will not be possible to meet this application until necessary additional engineering work is carried out.

The objective of the Department's current telephone development programme is to provide a fully satisfactory telephone service nationally in terms of both quality and availability by the end of 1984 and it is expected that service will be provided for the person named during the first half of next year.

It was expected that service would be provided earlier. However, it was not possible to do so because of the need to divert staff to other urgent work.

5.

asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs when a telephone service will be provided for a person (details supplied) in Dublin 11 as she applied in October 1982.

I fully appreciate the frustration felt at the delay in providing telephones. I regret, however, that it will not be possible to meet this application until necessary additional engineering work is carried out.

The objective of the Department's current telephone development programme is to provide a fully satisfactory telephone service nationally in terms of both quality and availability by the end of 1984. It is expected that service will be provided for the person named next year.

6.

asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the number of letters of complaint received by his Department in each of the last three years concerning the telephone service; and the number of letters received this year.

Statistics in the form requested by the Deputy are not kept by my Department. Many of the letter complaints received are of a routine nature and may refer also to other matters, for example, queries regarding telephone accounts or requests for rebates of rental for periods without service due to a fault. However, the following statistics set down below may be of interest to the Deputy. These statistics for the periods in question comprise letter complaints regarding telephone service received by my office, the office of the Minister of State, the Post Office Users' Council, Bord Telecom and the Secretary of my Department.

7.

asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he or Bord Telecom Éireann intend to provide an attachment to all telephones which will clearly indicate the total number of telephone units used and which will be relied upon as being accurate in the context of disputes relating to telephone accounts.

There is meter recording equipment in the local telephone exchange for every automatic telephone exchange line. I assume, therefore, that what the Deputy has in mind is the fitting of meters in subscribers' premises.

I do not propose to supply meters in all subscribers' premises. These meters are costly and many subscribers may not wish to have them in view of the costs involved. Suitable home meters are expected to be available shortly as an optional extra for all those who wish to rent them.

Would the Minister agree that there is widespread concern in the community as to the accuracy of telephone bills and accounts? Furthermore, in order to avoid either his Department or An Bord Telecom incurring the additional expense of having to investigate regularly the accuracy of such accounts, would he not agree that it would be desirable, as a matter of practice, that all future telephones supplied would automatically have a registering or meter system in-built from which the telephone user could ascertain the number of calls made and which could correspond with a similar system at the exchange in order to eliminate the continuous problems arising in this area?

I appreciate what the Deputy has said. We receive a large number of complaints in the Department. I am not as happy with the situation as I would like to be. I might tell the Deputy, for his information, that meters will be available from the end of this month. The cost of the connection of a meter will be £11.50 and the rental per quarter £5.83.

Can the Minister confirm that, as yet none of these subscriber meters has been provided? Further, would he agree that 12 months ago, the same reply was given by his Department?

It was not the same reply as I have given on this occasion; at least I did not reply last year; I think it was the Deputy himself who gave it. What I am now saying is that, from the end of this month, meters will be available.

Would the Minister confirm that none of these meters has been installed? I understood that meters were available.

They have not been available to date. They will be available from the end of this month.

It would be less intimidating if there was one Member only standing at a time.

Could the Minister——

The Chair was saying that it was less intimidating if we have one Member only standing at a time.

The penny has dropped.

The chair is suggesting that if the Minister and Deputy Leyden are on their feet he finds it intimidating.

Not all of us find standing Ministers intimidating. Can the Minister indicate whether the Department will accept the readings of such meters as accurately reflecting the number of telephone calls so that, in the event of a dispute arising as to the accuracy of an account the Department will accept the number of telephone calls having been made as those registered on such a meter? Furthermore, would the Minister not agree that this type of recording device should be built into the telephones that subscribers use and that there should not be additional charges for merely trying to ensure that one has an accurate record of the number of telephone calls made?

First of all, there is a charge for the equipment and that charge will remain unless some new decision is taken when the new board take over on 1 January next. Secondly, the reading of the meter will be accepted by the Department provided there has been no interference with the meter.

Is the Minister aware that the type of meter about which he is talking would be of little or no use to the subscriber? Would the Minister not examine the possibility of having the type of meter issued to subscribers—a meter that will have a print-out, that will bear the date, the name of the person to whom the call was made, to whatever number it may have been and also the charge for that call? That is the sort of information that subscribers need. Otherwise the extreme wave of unrest obtaining with regard to charging for Post Office accounts will continue. What I am endeavouring to point out to the Minister is that the type of meter about which we are now talking is inadequate before it is issued.

It is not inadequate before it is issued. What I have said in relation to the meter which will be available from the end of this month is that the reading on the meter will be accepted by the Department provided there has been no interference with the meter, or a fault that can be determined in any way.

Is the Minister aware of the type of meter about which I am talking and which is readily available to subscribers of the telephone service on the continent of Europe and in the United States?

I am not aware. As a matter of fact I do not think the Deputy knows what he is talking about.

I am quite sure I do know. I would say to the Minister that, instead of endeavouring to score a cheap point, he should find somebody who is aware of what I am talking about and who might enlighten him.

I might say that the equipment to which the Deputy refers, if there is such equipment in existence, would be of such cost, that I am very doubtful that telephone subscribers would use it.

The Minister does not even know what is there. He should be metered on his performance.

8.

asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will investigate the January-March and April-June 1983 telephone accounts forwarded to a person (details supplied) in Dublin as the amount of units charged in those accounts is greatly in excess of those stated to have been used by him.

The accounts for the quarters in question were investigated and were found to be correct.

Is the Minister aware that the subscriber is still unhappy and believes he is being billed for telephone calls that were not made? Would the Minister have this matter investigated again?

Yes, I will have it reinvestigated. I want to tell the Deputy that there was no fault on the line during 1983 which could have caused any type of over-recording.

9.

asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will review telephone charges for which a person (details supplied) in Dublin 16 received bills for the period of September 1982 to the end of June 1983 as he believes he has been grossly overcharged on his account.

A letter sent to the subscriber in May last confirmed that the accounts had been rechecked and that they were correct on the basis of the records of metered calls. A special check was made in August of his meter and associated exchange equipment and no evidence was found to suggest that overcharging had occurred. In the circumstances it is proposed to maintain the subscriber's account.

Is the Minister aware if there was any fault on the line of this subscriber during the period referred to which could have caused wrong registration in the exchange as to the amount of telephone units used?

From the information I have, there was no fault on the line. In relation to that particular subscriber, who became a subscriber in 1982, he has disputed all accounts, claiming to be overcharged every time.

Perhaps he should get a meter.

Perhaps he should.