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Eircode: Ireland's New Postal Code System

Conor Coyle
26 July 2015
Eircode: Ireland's New Postal Code System

  • Most importantly, Ticketsolve is already designed to facilitate the use of postcodes and has a unique field for this.
  • It can be made a mandatory field in both box office and online however, we do not recommend doing this just yet as it will inevitably generate incorrect information as customers who do not know their Eircode will input wrong information.
  • With the introduction of Eircode, there will obviously be a transition period while the whole concept beds in. While each customer will have their own opinion on how to manage this, we recommend asking customers at the box office and over the phone what their Eircode is and using the Postcode field for those who know it.
  • There are companies that specialise in appending postcodes to your existing customer records. Examples would be Autoaddress and PCA Predict (formerly Postcode Anywhere) to name two but as it is so early, we are not yet recommending anything in particular and are monitoring progress in this area.
  • Should you wish to look at a service like this, we can certainly help you to extract the information needed so please contact Support and we'll be happy to help.
  • Ticketsolve is already integrated with PCA Predict for our UK customers and they have confirmed that they plan to launch a similar service for Eircode. This will enable your box office staff to pull in an address in Ticketsolve by entering an Eircode and clicking a button. We will stay in close contact with PCA Predict and update you with any developments as soon as we get them.

Why is it being implemented?

Over 35% of addresses in Ireland share their address with at least one other property, making it difficult for those delivering goods and services to accurately identify the location of an address. Eircode has been designed specifically to overcome this problem. Unlike other countries where postcodes define a cluster or group of addresses, a unique Eircode will be assigned to each residential and business address.

When will addresses get an Eircode?

  • Eircode has now launched and all residential and business addresses will receive a letter notifying them of the Eircode for their address. We got ours today!
  • It's also possible to search or look up an Eircode on their website
  • Addresses will not change, an Eircode will simply be added to the end of a current addresses

How it works

An Eircode is a seven character alpha-numeric code made up of two parts. For Example - A65 F4E2 In this example, A65 is the Routing Key (this defines a principal post town span of delivery) and F4E2 is the unique identifier (is unique to an address and distinguishes one address from another).

Could people replace the address and just use the Eircode when posting letters?

The official line is no and the Eircode say that An Post requires the full, correct postal address to attempt delivery of the mail item. Please note that the system is optional so people do not have to use it.

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