When Telecom Eireann decided to convert to cardphones little did they
 know what was to follow. Ireland, since the humble beginnings in 1988 now has
 issued over 100 different cards and probably there are more than 5,000 collectors
 (which at least 50% would be under 18 years of age). The attractive designs and
 availability is the key to the success of Callcards in Ireland. Telecom Eireann,
 Ireland's main operator, first installed cardphones on a trial basis in 1988. 
They undertook this step by testing G.P.T. Plessey magnetic cards in Irelands'
 capital city in April 1988. Cards with 5,10,20,50 and 100 units were issued with 
the same basic design. During this trial two pictorial cards were issued. The first
 was to commemorate the Millennium of  Dublin city. It shows the famous Ha' Penny 
Bridge which spans across the river  Liffey. The second would be more familiar to 
English collectors because it is  infact an offical overprint of the G.P.T. Test 
card. These were given to engineers attending the F.I.T.C.E. conference in Cork 
in October 1988. The trial ended a few months later.
     	Telecom Eireann had decided to look at all the options which led them 
to conduct trials on another two systems. The second trial was of Autelca 
magnetic cards which took place in the south-western city of Limerick. 
Thirtyone cardphones were installed in February 1989 throughout the city. Cards
were also issued with the same five values but with a different basic design. 
Two pictorial cards (20 and 50 units) were issued for an I.M.I. management
conference which was sponsered by Telecom Eireann. This pair was  given to
delegates as a gift but many of them could see no use in the small piece of
plastic so they were discarded. I was once speaking to an employee of the hotel,
where the Conference was held, who remembers throwing out a few hundred of these
cards when the conference had ended. The cards now sell for over œ1,000 per
pair!
        In November 1989, nine Landis & Gyr cardphones were installed in the 
western city of Galway. The trial only lasted a short period, so much so, that 
used cards are now rarer than the mint ones which could be bought through the
Telecom Eireann collectors club. The cards, which are of the same physical
design as B.T. cards, could only be used in Galway. 
        The Telecom Eireann collectors club was started to allow collectors to
buy new cards at face value. They now have almost 4,000 members from all around
the world. They have an excellent policy of putting aside a quantity of all the
cards they issue (except Test and Service cards), this makes it easy for
collectors to get the more difficult private cards at a small premium above
their face value. Initialy they reserved 9,000 cards for collectors but now they
reserve one card for each member. 
        Although there was never a chipcard trial, Telecom Eireann had seen how 
successful they had been in France since their introduction in 1984. The cards 
are more expensive to produce but they are more secure in the long run. A
demonstration card was printed by Gemplus with the chip in the old French 
position. It is not known whether the chip was actually programmed or not. 
        The first phase of installing cardphones in Ireland commenced in 1990 
with 2,000 cards being issued in a very attractive brochure for another I.M.I.
conference. The Schlumberger cardphones which are now installed nationwide, 
were in use in the hotel where the conference was being held. There are two
variations of this card with both SI4 and SI5 chips.
        Little were we to know that this was the beginning of the different 
variations on Irish cards. Ireland's collectors are unique to other countries' 
because of the amount of detail they go into. It is not just the different chips
or surface texture but into small details such as Innovatron Logos and chip 
backgrounds. In my opinion it is up to each individual collector to decide what
variations they want to have in their collection. 
        The first cards issued to the public were the first definitive sets 
which included the Teddy Bear, Cottage, E.C. Presidency and the Rock of Cashel.
Some of the cards from this set were replaced but the "Cottage" card was 
reprinted until it was discontinued in August of this year. Over the four years
this card was printed by Gemplus, Schlumberger and Solaic with different 
addresses on the reverse and different chips etc. In my catalogue, "The Concise 
Irish Callcard Catalogue", which was issued in September I have listed over 60 
different variations of this card and explanations for beginners on how to find
these variations. The next card produced was for St.Patrick's Day in 1991, and
it shows the Shamrock which was used by St. Patrick to explain the Trinity of
God to the peasants. This complimentary card was given away as a gift during
parades throughout Ireland. In May of that year two cards were issued for the
traditional Irish sports of Gaelic Football and Hurling. There were 20,000 each
of these cards issued and they are now quite diffcult to get. In September 1991
the new definitive set was introduced to include the Irish Horse Racing, City of
Culture and Dancers. There was some confusion concerning the Irish Horse
Racing Card, Schlumberger mistranslated the wording to read "Horse Racing in
Ireland". After the first few reprints of this card the wording was changed to
"Irish Horse Racing". 
        Since then Telecom Eireann has put a lot more thought into the design 
of the cards. Although they do not print cards for the collector's market 
(for instance cards with pictures of cars, trains, and aeroplanes) they have
issued very attractive cards for events as the Hockey World Cup and Christmas.
        The first advertising card issued was for Kelloggs as a promotion. 
209,000 cards were issued and this was the most successful promotion ever run 
by Kelloggs in Ireland. Since then Telecom Eireann has introduced many 
international companies such as Guinness, EMI and Disney to the medium of 
Callcard advertising. They have still kept up the standard with wonderful sets
as in the hugely popular EMI cards (Blink, Tina Turner, Diana Ross and Garth
Brooks). These cards were all issued through the normal retail outlets but were
kept by fans, so that cards such as "Tina Turner" are quite difficult to find.
The first "Private" Telecom Eireann card was issued for the first Collectors
Fair held every May in Dublin.  Of the 1,100 issued 500 were sold at œ4.50 each
in a special presentation pack on the day of the fair. This card is now worth
over œ80. The remainder were snapped up through the Collectors Club weeks in 
advance. The card shows the "Royal Hospital" in Kilmainham. Since then Telecom
Eireann has issued five more private cards. The first two for "Cable and
Wireless" and "Tia Maria" had 9,000 put aside for collectors, but the recent
"Eagle Star","Tia Maria 2" and "Eurobase" cards were only sold on a one set per
collector basis. This move has been welcomed as a very fair way of selling
private cards as it stops dealers cornering the market.
        Commemoritive or Special cards are issued on a regular basis for 
annual events or festivities as Christmas and The Rose of Tralee Festival. 
The latter is a competition held yearly in Tralee, Co. Kerry where girls of
Irish descent take part in a personality competition and talk of their
experiences etc., The winner is known as the "Rose of Tralee". At the beginning
Telecom planned to issue every year a card for Easter and St. Valentine's Day
but for some reason this idea was scrapped. In the last year some very
attractive cards for the "World Cup", Irish Emigrants, "Irish Air Corps",
"Hockey World Cup" and the "Design a Callcard Competition" have been issued and
are proving to be very popular.
        Things look bright for the future with attractive cards being issued 
steadily throughtout the year.
        Although this article as been mainly about Telecom Eireann's Callcards,
they are not the only company issuing cards in Ireland. The Dash Trial which was
run through Dublin Bus was an electronic Purse which could be used in 
Telephones, Carparks, Toll bridges and on a bus route. This trial was the first
of its kind in Dublin and has been very successful. Cardphones have been issued
in Dublin's largest university since the start of the year with just one plain
card issued to date.  Hopefully they will keep the high stantards that are
related to Irish cards.                                                 
         Superphone is another company who have been using magnetic cards for
their mobile cardphones for use on buses and boats. They are changing to
Chipcards and have just issued their first complimentary card.
         As I mentioned earlier I have written a catalogue of Irish Callcards 
so if you have any questions relating to Irish Phonecards just write to me at: 
Piero Tintori, 1, Pinewood Grove, Glasnevin, Dublin 11, Ireland.