Sir, - Although we have had seven digit telephone numbers for some years now, they are becoming more commonplace nowadays. However, there is an irregularity as to how people present them both orally and in written form.
The reason telephone numbers are given out is that one hopes they are remembered and used. There seems to be a pervasive habit of putting all seven digits together and leaving out the area code. It is much smarter to give the area code and to present the first three digits, then a space, then the last four digits, i.e. (01) 123 4567. It is easier to remember than trying to cope with seven numbers close together.
Including the area code would be a long overdue recognition that there are seven area codes in the State and that people outside the Pale (01) use telephones too!
Someone suggested to me recently that the inconsistency in the presentation of our telephone numbers was due to conflicting standards from the US and continental Europe, and perhaps this suggests an unconscious conflict within our nation as to which direction will we focus, East or West? Admittedly he was a little drunk at the time, but I think there may be a grain of truth in this. - Yours, etc.,
Laburnum Road,
Clonskeagh,
Dublin 14.