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.