On call: Irish clock up 29,750 years of mobile chat

THE Irish spent 15.5 billion minutes talking on the phone last year — equivalent to 29,570 years of non-stop chatter, new figures show.

Research also reveals the nation’s mobile phone users sent 4.4 billion text messages last year, equivalent to 1,053 for every man, woman and child.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures show that this year the number of mobile phones in the country stood at 4.4 million — 160,000 more than the population of 4.24 million.