The little town of Westport in County Mayo lies under the shadow of Ireland’s “holy mountain” Croagh Patrick, but has earned a sudden and dubious notoriety for decidedly worldly reasons.

Residents of the western Irish town have been bombarded by late night telephone callers in search of sex chatlines belonging to an X-rated British cable TV channel.

Numbers for Westport and the premium-rate “Babestation” hotlines both start with 098, but many Irish callers are omitting the international code for the UK – where the channel is based.



Ireland’s regional development minister, Michael Ring, said his constituents were “aggravated and annoyed” over the late night calls from people believing they were ringing a sex line.



He said: “They are getting these calls in the middle of night. One of those people has an elderly mother and family members all over the world and there could be a call at any time that they would have to take.”

The Fine Gael politician, who represents the same constituency as his party leader and Irish prime minister, Enda Kenny, said he did not see why people in Westport should have to change their numbers instead of the TV channel.

Ireland’s broadcasting and communications regulators said they have no power of their own to compel any change.



The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland’s chief executive, Michael O’Keeffe, said he was lobbying UK counterparts on behalf of harassed Westport residents “as a matter of courtesy”.



A spokeswoman for ComReg, which regulates landline and mobile phone networks in the Irish Republic, said it had been in contact with its UK counterpart and was trying to “identify a solution as soon as possible”.



“ComReg advises anyone calling the UK from the Republic of Ireland should always use the prefix 00 44,” she said.



Before the townsfolk of Westport were harassed by callers seeking the adult TV station’s sex chatlines, the town was regarded as the world capital of Botox. Almost all of the world’s Botox is still manufactured by multinational Allergan in Westport.





