40 years since first mobile phone call in Ireland

Ottoline Spearman

Friday marks 40 years since the first official mobile phone call in Ireland.

Broadcaster Pat Kenny made the call to former Minister for Communications Jim Mitchell in Dublin on December 11th, 1985.

According to RTÉ, the two had a chat about Mr Kenny's Best Dressed Man of The Year award.

There are now five million smartphone users in the country, but in 1985, people were struggling to get a landline installed.

Derek Cassidy, founder of the Irish Communications Research Group, said the mobile phone used to be aimed at business people.

Speaking on Newstalk, he said: "An awful lot of trades people who always wanted a landline realised they could get a landline in their pocket, and that's where they actually took to the system [of mobile phones]".