Modern History of Durrus and District - Telephones

Telephones

The phone service arrived in, and consisted of a manual exchange located in the Post Office. The STD System did not come until circa 1981. In 1979 the Beltegeuse exploded at the jetty at Whiddy Oil Terminal, killing over 40 people. As a consequence the Tribunal Inquiry set up at the West Lodge Hotel, chaired by Mr. Justice Costello. At the time, a postal strike commenced in January of that year, and was to last until the end of June. This strike not only affected the postal service, but also closed down the phone service in those parts of the country still on manual exchanges, including Durrus. At that time, Bantry was still on the manual service, and each afternoon reporters covering the Tribunal had to race to Drimoleague to phone their report in, after enduring a long queue at the phone box, as Drimoleague was then on the STD service. It might be noted by way of contrast, that in the 1890s, a deputation from the Irish Co-Op movement headed by Sir Horace Plunkett, went on a study tour of southern Sweden, in the Uppsala area, and were amazed to discover that most of the farmers in the area had phones.