First Automatic Telephone Exchange in Ireland

A telephone exchange, telephone switch, or central office is a telecommunications system used in the public switched telephone network (PSTN) or in large enterprises. It interconnects telephone subscriber lines or virtual circuits of digital systems to establish telephone calls between subscribers.

The establishment of telephonic communications in Ireland in the late 1800s closely followed the demise of the dominant electronic medium of the day, telegraphy. Ireland’s first commercial telegraph was established by the English & Irish Magnetic Telegraph Company in 1851, linking Galway and Dublin along railway lines. The following year a submarine link was built, connecting Dublin to the English network at Holyhead, Wales.

First automatic telephone exchange

The first automatic telephone exchange in Dublin was opened in Ship Street on July 28, 1927. An automatic exchange was opened in Dun Laoghaire just after the outbreak of World War II, but the war put paid to hopes of an immediate extension of the automatic system.

Last Manual Switch Call

The last woman in the country to put through a telephone call via manual switchboard exchange has retired from An Post more than three decades later.

Florence Bugler was the postmistress in Mountshannon, Co Clare on May 28th, 1987 when the country switched to fully automatic telephone calls. She put through the last call from businessman Dr Michael Smurfit to then taoiseach Charlie Haughey.