Ireland cold calling rules: why business mobiles need consent

Ireland lets sales teams call business landlines unless the business has opted out, but a marketing call to a mobile needs prior consent, and the rule does not exempt business mobiles. Both rules sit in regulation 13 of S.I. No. 336 of 2011. If your Irish list is mostly direct mobile numbers, most of it is not callable for a cold pitch.

That is the part that catches teams out. A rep in London or Boston sees an Irish IT director’s mobile number in a data tool, assumes “B2B is fine in Europe”, and dials. In Ireland that assumption does not hold for mobiles.

The two rules that matter

Regulation 13 of the 2011 ePrivacy Regulations treats landlines and mobiles differently. As of October 2026:

Line	Default	You may make a marketing call when	Source
Landline	Opt-out	The subscriber has not told you they object, and no opt-out is recorded for the number in the National Directory Database	Reg. 13(5)
Mobile	Opt-in	The subscriber or user told you they consent to marketing calls on that mobile, or their consent is recorded in the National Directory Database	Reg. 13(6)

Two details from the text:

• The 28-day grace period. Regulation 13(9) says you do not break the landline rule by calling within 28 days after an opt-out is recorded in the National Directory Database. After day 28, the opt-out binds you.
• Who proves consent. Under regulation 13(14), if consent is disputed in a prosecution, the caller has to prove the person “unambiguously consented”. A note in a spreadsheet saying “OK to call” is weak proof.

Myth check: “B2B calls are exempt in the EU”

This belief comes from the EU ePrivacy Directive. Article 13(5) of Directive 2002/58/EC says its consent and opt-out rules for live marketing calls apply to subscribers who are natural persons. For businesses, member states only have to make sure their “legitimate interests” are sufficiently protected.

That is the EU floor, and countries may go further. Ireland’s regulation 13(5) and 13(6) speak of “a subscriber or user”, with no limit to natural persons. Compare regulation 13(1) and 13(2), which do say “natural person” where the drafters meant it. So the plain reading is that the mobile consent rule covers a company-paid mobile used by a sales director as much as a personal one.

This is a summary of the text, not legal advice. If Irish mobiles are a large part of your pipeline, ask your counsel to confirm how the rule applies to your lists.

What every call must include

Regulation 13(10)(a) requires a marketing call to give:

• the name of the person making the call; and
• if the call is made for another business, that business’s name.

A clear opener covers it: “Hi, this is Aoife from Northwind, calling on behalf of Contoso.” Agencies and outsourced SDR teams need both names.

Automated calls without a person on the line have a separate, stricter rule: regulation 13(1) requires consent from natural persons, and 13(10)(b) requires the caller’s name, address and phone number. A live rep using a dialer is still making a live call. A prerecorded message is not.

The penalties are per call

Regulation 13(13)(b) makes each unsolicited call a separate offence. Under regulation 13(15):

• on summary conviction, a class A fine;
• on conviction on indictment, up to €250,000 for a company and up to €50,000 for an individual.

Regulation 25 adds that a director or manager can be prosecuted personally when the company’s offence was committed with their consent or connivance, or through their neglect. The Data Protection Commissioner can bring summary prosecutions under regulation 26.

A worked example: what is left of a 400-number list

An example, with made-up numbers. A team plans a one-week push into Ireland with 400 contacts from a data provider:

Step	Numbers	What happens
Starting list	400	250 direct mobiles, 150 landlines (switchboards and direct dials)
Mobiles without recorded consent	−250	Not callable for a cold pitch under reg. 13(6). Move them to email or LinkedIn
Landlines on the NDD opt-out, older than 28 days	−30	Not callable under reg. 13(5)(b)
Landlines that told you before to stop	−5	Not callable under reg. 13(5)(a). They belong on your own do-not-call list
Callable	115	Landlines with no objection on record

The team planned 400 dials and has 115. That changes the plan more than any script does: switchboard calls need gatekeeper handling, and a connect rate measured on mobiles elsewhere won’t hold. Our guide to cold call connect rate explains how to measure it per list.

A checklist before you dial Ireland

1. Tag every Irish number as mobile or landline. Your data provider or a number lookup can do it. Don’t guess from the person’s job title.
2. Remove mobiles that have no recorded consent. Keep the consent record (date, wording, source) with the contact if you do have one.
3. Ask your data provider how they screen landlines against the National Directory Database opt-out. Keep their answer on file.
4. Load your own do-not-call list and add every “don’t call me again” the day you hear it.
5. Script the opener with the caller’s name and the business the call is for.
6. Remember personal data rules still apply. A name and direct number is personal data, so GDPR applies to how you got and use it. Our article on GDPR and B2B cold calling covers legitimate interest and the information you owe the person.

How DialSavvy handles this

DialSavvy checks every call against your do-not-call list and the contact’s local calling hours before it dials, and rule packs by country set what is checked. National registry checks are coming, so screening Irish landlines against the National Directory Database stays with your data provider for now. You can see the current list on the compliance page.

Calling into Ireland and the UK from one team? Book a demo and bring a sample of your Irish list. We’ll go through which numbers are callable and how the checks run before each dial.