Telephone Numbers in The Republic of Ireland - Overview and History

Overview and History

Telephone numbers in Ireland are similar in format to those in many European open numbering plans, for example the UK or Germany with only the subscriber's number being required for local dialling. However, it is also possible to dial local calls with the full area code without any difference in charge. The trunk prefix is '0' followed by an area code, the first digit of which indicates the geographical area.

• 01 — Dublin City, County Dublin and parts of counties Kildare, Wicklow and Meath.
• 02 — Cork City, most of County Cork and a small part of County Waterford : (021) Cork City, (022) Mallow, (023) Bandon, (024) Youghal, (025) Fermoy, (026) Macroom, (027) Bantry, (028) Skibbereen, (029) Millstreet.
• 03 — Not used
• 04 — East Coast (excluding Dublin), and parts of Midlands e.g.(041) Drogheda, (042) Dundalk, (043) Longford, (044) Mullingar, (045) Kildare, (046) Navan, (047) Monaghan, (049) Cavan, (0402) Arklow, (0404) Wicklow.
• 05 — Southeast & East Midlands e.g. : (051) Waterford City, (052) Cahir, (053) Rosslare, (054) Bunclody, (056) Kilkenny City, (057) Tullamore, Birr and Portlaoise, (058) Dungarvan, (059) Carlow,(0504) Thurles, (0505) Roscrea,
• 06 — Southwest & Midwest including Counties Kerry and Limerick : (061) Limerick City and Shannon, (062) Cashel, (063) Charleville, (064) Killarney & Kenmare, (065) Ennis, (066) Tralee & Dingle/An Daingean, (067) Nenagh, (068) Listowel, (069) Newcastle West.
• 07 — Northwest including Counties Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal : e.g. : (071) Sligo, Carrick-on-Shannon and Bundoran, (074) Letterkenny, Ballybofey, Glenties.
• 08 — Mobile Telephones, Pagers and some non-geographic numbers see below:
• 09 — West and West Midlands, including Counties Galway, Mayo and areas of Westmeath : e.g. (090) Athlone, Portumna and Ballinasloe, (091) Galway City, (093) Tuam and Headford (Co. Galway), (094) Castlebar, (095) Clifden, (096) Ballina, (097) Belmullet, (098) Westport, Achill and off-shore Islands, (099) Kilronan (Off Shore), Aran Islands

Area codes have varied in length, between one and four digits, and subscribers' numbers between four and seven digits but a migration to a standard format, (0xx) xxx xxxx, is in progress.

This process is only being carried out as needed where existing area codes and local numbering systems have reached full capacity.

Dublin numbers are currently seven digits, but may change to eight digits in the future, although breaking the city into separate area codes would match the rest of the national system.

The 08 numbering range was previously used for calls to Northern Ireland, but following the UK's renumbering of Northern Ireland in 2000, this changed, so to call a number in Belfast from the Republic:

• Before 2000: (080) 1232 xxx xxx

• After 2000: (048) 90xx xxxx; or via the UK numbering plan; 00 44 28 90xx xxxx

Calls to Northern Ireland landlines using the 048 prefix are charged at national rates, unlike calls to the rest of the UK. Calls dialled using via the UK numbering plan may be charged at international rates by some operators.

Until the early 1990s, the 03 numbering range was originally used for calls to Great Britain, with the Irish prefix 030 replacing the UK trunk code 0. Calls to British cities using the Director telephone system were made using shorter codes:

• 031 — London (01)
• 032 — Birmingham (021)
• 033 — Edinburgh (031)
• 034 — Glasgow (041)
• 035 — Liverpool (051)
• 036 — Manchester (061)

This was discontinued in 1992, when the international access code changed from 16 to 00, and calls to Great Britain required the country code 44 and the area code in full.

For a short period in the early 1990s 0300 was used for premium rate services (see below)

The prefixes 151x, 1530, 1540, 1550 (Initially 0300), 1559, 1560, 1570 and 1580 are for premium rate services which are more expensive than other telephone calls. These numbers provide a range of services from weather forecasting to adult dating. ComReg, a government body, monitors the premium rate services industry.

Freephone services use the prefix 1800, while shared cost (Lo-Call) numbers use the prefix 1850. 1890 (local rate) numbers are issued to non-geographic services, with 0818 being charged at national rate, or slightly higher.

One disadvantage of this arrangement is that Irish shared cost numbers are inaccessible from outside the Republic (unlike, for example, UK local and national rate numbers, which can be accessed by dialling 0044845 or 0044870), although numbers with the 0818 prefix can be dialled internationally, for example, as 00353818 from the UK. Consequently, many organisations that operate on both sides of the border advertise separate non-geographic numbers, for example, a 1800, 1850 or 0818 number for callers from the Republic, and an 0800, 0845 or 0870 number for callers from Northern Ireland.

Dial-up Internet providers are entitled, but not required, to use numbers in the 189x range. 1891 numbers cost slightly below local call rate, and are often provided for subscription dialup packages. 1892 numbers are used for full local rate dialup, and 1893 for variable-rate dialup.

A new area was introduced in 2005, using the 076 access code. This is allocated to VOIP providers, and is treated as either a national or local call by individual telecoms operators.

The 13xxx code is used for accessing third party phone service providers and some internet services. These codes can be used to route calls to local, mobile, national or long distance numbers. However, most customers use carrier preselect, where the local telephone switch automatically routes calls over their desired service provider(s)