‘Blight on the landscape’ phone boxes replaced by digital pedestals

OLD phone boxes in Ballyfermot have been labelled a “blight on the landscape” with a local councillor rejoicing with their eventual removal.

Cllr Vincent Jackson has been lobbying Dublin City Council to remove the existing phone boxes due to the state of disrepair they are in.

Three out of the four booth-style phone boxes along Ballyfermot Road have been removed recently, with the one outside Staffords Funeral Home the final one standing – for now.

“The old ones that were there haven’t worked in I’d say at least 10 to 15 years, they were in absolute bits,” Cllr Vincent Jackson told The Echo.

“I approached the council in relation to dismantling the existing phone boxes because they’re a blight on the landscape and a long time past their sell by date.

“Even when I was younger you wouldn’t have had that many people using them, it would have been more of my parents generation who used these things out of necessity – but that’s a long, long time ago at this stage.”

But something that has left Ballyfermot-Drimnagh Cllr Jackson bemused about is how new “digital pedestals” are being erected in their place.

“I wouldn’t see them getting much use and I’d say very few people would ever use a phone box again if we’re being honest,” he said.

It was reported in May that Eir are installing 22 new digital pedestals, improved phone kiosks with touch-sensitive screens and advertising space, around Dublin City.

A goal of the new kiosks is to provide a level of wayfinding for people in the community and give space to the council to advertise upcoming events.