Eir finally hangs up on payphone kiosks
IT is the end of the line for the country’s last remaining payphone boxes.
Almost a century after they first appeared, the boxes will be taken down by Eir in the coming months. Since their introduction, payphone boxes have been a familiar sight on the streets of Ireland, serving the public before the advent of mobile phones, and at a time when landlines were an exception rather than the rule in Irish homes.
At their peak, approximately 3,300 payphone boxes dotted the landscape, complemented by over 5,000 indoor units. However, as landlines and then mobile phones became the norm, there was a steady drop in their usage.
In 2020, the communications watchdog Comreg removed the legal obligation for public payphones to be provided by telecoms firms. Since that time, Eir has been working to give the phone boxes a new lease of life, providing community service where possible. Six of the iconic concrete Posts & Telegraphs (P&T) kiosks now house life-saving defibrillators.
Two towns have creatively adapted newer aluminium kiosks into tourist pods, offering leaflets and information about local places of interest, and one box in Co. Roscommon has been turned into a religious shrine.
Eir said 76 boxes have been converted into rapid electric vehicle chargers, with an additional 66 on the way. A further 60 have been transformed into digital kiosks, as a point of connectivity and provider of mapping systems. Of the 105 remaining booths, 11 will become digital kiosks, while the other 94 are set to be removed by the end of the year.
Oliver Loomes, Eir CEO, said: ‘We’ve taken deliberate steps, in collaboration with communities and local authorities, to thoughtfully transition this legacy infrastructure. We are pleased that more than 200 sites will now keep people connected via new digital pedestals or electric car charging points.’
As a tribute to the end of the payphone era, Eir has restored a 100-year-old ‘K1’ kiosk – the first type of payphone box introduced in the country. The kiosk is one of only seven known examples in Ireland or the UK, and will go on show to the public later this year.