TexasRanger: Historically polarisation wouldn't have made much difference for lamps here as they were all bayonet fittings anyway - i.e. two springy pins at the bottom of the bulb holder and no screw contacts. ES fittings have only become common in recent years, but the BC fittings are still the de facto norm.
For whatever reason, Irish electricians tended not to use rings as much as their UK counterparts. It's permitted, but not as common. You'll typically find most socket circuits are on B20 breakers. We also no longer allow rings in kitchens due to the cluster of high wattage appliances likely to be encountered. So, you're supposed to install at least 3 radials.
Schuko's still mentioned in Irish standards as IS-180 and the modern references are just a referral to CEE 7 standards. The original Irish standard documents were quite interesting as they describe in considerable detail how to test Schuko plugs i.e. overloading them with higher amperages for considerable periods of time and even dropping them from a standard height onto various surface types.
The main barrier to change here would be just the huge inconvenience of it. Also, BS1363 sockets are flat and require very shallow wall boxes relative to Schuko. The flush versions are much tidier looking and don't catch fluff, grease etc. The plugs are rather bulky however, although as I was mentioning they are getting slimmer due to recent amendments to the standard that allows for folding pins and smaller plug bodies.
The main risk we have is the UK wandering off into some completely non-compliant standards. It wouldn't be beyond the realms of possibility that they might say start accepting products certified in Mainland China if that were part of some trade deal etc etc.
...
As for IEC 60906
From what I read, the main objectors to it were the UK and Germany, both of whom made technical arguments against it. So, it never progressed in Europe.
You certainly could make a Schuko or French socket with an extra hole that would accommodate IEC 60906 in the medium term. It would just be like a neater version of the Italian sockets that do similar, as AFAIK IEC 60906 would fit inside an existing Schuko outlet.
You could also do a BS1363 socket with IEC 60906 sockets on a double plate. For example, this page shows BS1363 13amp and BS546 2amp sockets with local fusing on on a single double plate. There's no particular reason you couldn't do similar with a 16 amp fuse for a IEC 60906 socket.
See no. 10 :
https://www.plugsocketmuseum.nl/British1.htmlhttps://www.plugsocketmuseum.nl/GB/MEM-BS1363+546_socket.jpgI would assume in Ireland we won't do anything unless it becomes absolutely apparent that using BS1363 is more inconvenient than switching back to Schuko. However, in the 1960s and 70s and well into the early 90s it was common enough to get items delivered with continental plugs and just cut them off and fit Irish ones. That could once again become the norm.
There's no way we'd adopt IEC 60906 unless the whole of the EU was doing it. It would be absolutely no advantage to do it on our own. We'd just be jumping from BS1363 to a system that was still incompatible with grounded European plugs.
It seems a bit of a weird choice for South Africa, given the size of that market. CEE 7 would have made more sense.
