Women's Aid has called for the number of public phone boxes to be maintained, saying they can be used by abused women to contact their helpline.

Eir, which maintains public phones, had hoped to reduce the number of phoneboxes to 500, according to the Irish Examiner.

But in a submission to ComReg, Women's Aid said some Helpline users avail of payphones as their only option.

ComReg received a number of complaints about antisocial behaviour in phone booths, including one from the Abbey Theatre.