Limerick twins say goodbye to twin payphones

Twins Ben and Lee Lyons, Patrickswell, pose in the county's last payphones

placeholder image — Twins Ben and Lee Lyons, Patrickswell, pose in the county's last payphones

The Patrickswell boys bode farewell to county Limerick's last phone boxes

LOCAL children posed with the last public payphones in county Limerick before their removal.

These twin phone boxes in Adare are the final phone boxes in all of Limerick county, and will be removed “in the near future”, according to a spokesperson from telecommunications company Eir.

Twins Ben and Lee and their little brother Rory were on their way home from a match when they decided to take the opportunity to pose with the phone boxes.

The Patrickswell children have a long family history in the industry, with their father, grandfather, aunt and three granduncles having worked in Eircom and its predecessor, Telecom Eireann.

Their father, Matthew Lyons, said that while he understands the payphones are not in a lot of use anymore, he wonders what the harm is in keeping them.

Preserving this piece of history is very important to him, even purchasing an old A&B phone box to keep as an artefact in his home.

The telecommunications company stated in February of this year that they intended to begin the process of removing the last of the country’s payphones.

They explained that, of the 105 remaining units, 11 would be turned into digital kiosks, with the other 94 being removed.

Over the past few years, unused payphone boxes have been repurposed as defibrillator sites, digital information kiosks for tourists and locals, and even electric vehicle chargers.

There are eight public payphones remaining in Limerick city.