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In Ireland the most recent installations all terminate on an "NTU 2001" which basically is a demarkation point, much like what you're describing in the USA except that it is incorporated into a surface mounted telephone socket.

The U.K. uses the "NTE5" for a similar purpose:
http://www.austin-taylor.co.uk/pages/nte5.htm

The pictures on that page don't show the unit with the lower panel removed, but that lower plate which contains the front jack and the IDC connections for extension wiring just plugs into the jack on the main section. The jacks are the BT431 type, not U.S. modular,
although the latter have now become the norm for the phoneend of cords (complete with a lot of confusion as to whether the line should be on the inner or outer pair).

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ADSL splitter. This has all of the above, as well as an ADSL filter and has 2 sockets on the front 1 filtered, one raw for the DSL modem. All of the extension wiring's filtered by this plate.

Several manufacturers turn out ADSL filters for the U.K. market which are a direct slot-in replacement for the lower panel of the NTE5. For example:
http://www.adslnation.com/products/xtespec.php

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Before the introduction of RJ11 in Ireland phones were either connected with phono-jack style connectors similar to those used on manual operator switch boards or, more frequently, hardwired.

Ditto here. The old Post Office 1/4-inch jacks came in 4, 5, and 6-way versions to allow for all the various extension plans and bell arrangements which were in use at the time (it was complicated by the fact that the GPO used to like wiring multiple bells in series, so the jack arrangements had break contacts to accomoodate that).

Hardwired was pretty much the norm for most domestic installations until the modern style connectors arrived in the early 1980s.

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But, you could still whack an RJ11 plug onto Al Capone's candlestick phone and plug it into an Irish phone socket and the digital ericsson or alcatel switch would quite happily understand its pulse dialling and connect a call.

Same here. The System X and System Y (AXE10) exchanges which make up the network now will still happily accept pulse dialing. Just as well considering the Western Electric 500 phones I have connected! [Linked Image]