Telephones only became widespread in Ireland in the second half of the twentieth century

This small telephone directory covers the whole of the Republic of Ireland – and less than half the book is devoted to phone numbers outside of Dublin.

The first pages contain instructions on using a phone, with advice like ‘replace receiver before re-dialling,’ and ‘speak directly into the transmitter.’ There was no standard emergency number in those days – it is 999, 9999, 10 or 0, depending on the user’s location.

Permanent Collection