Is it possible to access the Dublin phone book by Internet? I am looking to contact a language school and I think I'll recognise the address. - Maureen
If you go to www.goldenpages.ie you should be able to find the school you are looking for. This searches for the business you are looking for based on three questions: what? - the type of business you are looking for (in this case, a language school); where? - the city, town or village the business is in (in this case, Dublin); and who? - the name of the business.
You do not need to know the answers to all three questions. Just filling in one before the search should help you to find what you are looking for. When the search engine, which is very fast, has done its work, it will give you the details you need, provided it can find the exact place, based on the information you have given it, or else a list of possible options.
As well as giving you the name and addresses of the business it also includes the fax number and a link to the web site, if there is one. In some cases it also provides useful information - the number of bedrooms in a hotel for example, and its conference, banqueting and leisure facilities. It doesn't just cover Dublin though, it caters for the whole country. To make your search even easier, there is a dropdown box of county names and different area codes. There is also an A-Z classification index which lists all of the different businesses listed under each letter (just zip fasteners and zoos in the case of Z).
The site has a lot more to offer than that too. The international dialling codes section is one that is probably seeing a lot of traffic at the moment because of the recent change in the London codes. The Government Services section is also a very useful resource to have on the Internet. It is easy to search this by entering a keyword such as defence. This leads to a list of army barracks addresses and numbers.
You can also send an e-card under various themes such as Happy Birthday, Get Well and Congratulations from the site.
The one thing you definitely cannot get from the Golden Pages site is a personal phone number. As they say themselves 'We are currently reviewing issues under the Data Protection Act and pending their resolution the Personal Finder on is temporarily unavailable.'
Send your WebWorld queries to pcollins@irishtimes.com or by post to Padraig Collins, The Irish Times New Media, 4th Floor, Ballast House, Aston Quay, Dublin 2.
