I’m looking for a man who moved from New Mexico to somewhere in Ireland in 1998. I know his name, but little else. I went to the online version of the Irish Telephone Directory and was frustrated by the fact that I needed to know the county he lived in to be able to search. So I emailed the contact person for that website, and this is what I got in reply:

Further to your email, unfortunately I can not help you at this time, in Ireland by law you must know the full name and the approximate address to search for anyone’s telephone number. Sorry I can not be of more help at this time.

While I’m frustrated by their website and by this response, there’s also a part of me that thinks it’s a good thing that the Irish have taken steps to hide themselves from outsiders. If I was living in Ireland, I know I certainly wouldn’t want anyone to be able to find me. At least not without knowing what county I was living in.