New phone line for Dublin

Dublin, 3 May 1913 - A new telephone cable is being laid under the Irish Sea to give Dublin a direct connection with the English telephone system for the first time.

The announcement in the House of Commons in London that the cable will be operational within three months has been warmly welcomed by businessmen in Dublin.

Up to now, anyone in Dublin who wishes to talk on the phone to someone in London, had to have the call passed through a series of connections from Dublin to Belfast, from there under the Irish Sea to either Glasgow or Carlisle, and then down through the length of Britain to London.

Because these same lines are also being used by towns and cities down through England, calls from Dublin must wait in turn and often take many hours to be put through.

[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]