# You can find your new postcode here



## Brendan Burgess (13 Jul 2015)

https://finder.eircode.ie/#/

I hadn't realised that they being implemented so quickly. 

That will probably help in ordering stuff online.  On a few occasions, I have had orders rejected because I left it empty or put in "4" .  

Brendan


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## Steven Barrett (13 Jul 2015)

Is there a need for it in a small country like Ireland? We've spent €27m on developing it and it took 10 years (typical of us to spend so much and take so long) and it still has a huge amount of problems. 

From The Independent http://www.independent.ie/irish-new...ut-irelands-new-postcode-system-31371881.html

Each code that is generated for each address is random, meaning the code for adjacent properties bear no relation to each other.
The Irish Fire and Emergency Services Association have warned the random nature of the codes could “cost lives” as the random design cannot be learned and are not predictable so that emergency services can find localities easily from memory.
Many have warned that an error in relating the code could go unnoticed and send emergency services to the wrong location.
Companies such as FedEx, DHL, UPS, Pallet Express, and BOC Ireland have all publicly declared that they will not use Eircode due to its design. They said that Eircode provides the longitude and latitude of an address but that this has already been available to the postal delivery sector for more than two decades.
Up to 50,000 placements are inaccurate or completely missing from the system because they are in the Irish language.
Eircode does not work with Google Maps.


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## STEINER (13 Jul 2015)

Got mine, easy to use the site and to remember the code.  I didn't have a post code, just county Dublin, now its K.....

I don't understand the optional aspect of it.


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## 44brendan (13 Jul 2015)

Wow pretty good. Can also access a satellite picture of house through the Code!


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## seamless (13 Jul 2015)

Hmm. I get an eircode for my address but the map points to the wrong house. I filled in the contact form to inform them of the error but I get "Error has occurred, please try again later" on submission.

Must try harder.


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## Gerry Canning (14 Jul 2015)

SBarrett.

I think we do need a code, time will soon tell us if this is the one that suits Ireland.

With similar place names and similar surnames and similar townlands ,it can be difficult to find the correct household.
Can be very frustrating and time consuming to figure out (without local knowledge ) have you got the right house in a townland , the right eg  Mc Daids house in a townland that is full of mc daids etc.
I believe Fastway have said its ok, it would really help them if it properly ID,s a place.

Hope it works and if it does ,I expect it will soon be added to Sat Navs.


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## Leo (14 Jul 2015)

Even An Post who say this is not needed (more so to hamper their competition) often get post to my home place wrong, as there are a few places in the county with the same townland name.


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## clueless (14 Jul 2015)

It's a joke. I just tried to look up my parents address for them. They live in the country. There is absolutely no way of figuring out which house is supposed to be there house. It's an absolute farce. As pointed out above. Typical...it's just like the voting machine scandal....Who decides these things?


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## PaddyBloggit (14 Jul 2015)

clueless said:


> ..... There is absolutely no way of figuring out which house is supposed to be there house.



I found it very easy to find my postcode. Find the house on the map (you can even view the  satellite version) and place the cross hairs over the red dot on the house.

I honestly don't get how you can't find the house on the map.


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## mathepac (14 Jul 2015)

So far, Thanks to this make-work project, so far I've

1) Had my address changed from Kilkenny to Tipperary
i.e. The Man, 101 An Estate, A Village, County Kilkenny
to The Man, 101 An Estate, A Village, A Tipperary Town, County Tipperary

I informed my motor and house insurers of the changes (they can't cater for post-codes for Irish addresses!) and asked about changes in premiums as a consequence. Motor insurers assured my no extra cost on renewal, however the house insurers were rather more circumspect, saying they'd check with the underwriters on renewal.

2) Tried to change my bank account and credit card and debit card addresses. Needless to say none of the organisations concerned can cater for post-codes on Irish addresses and the bank went so far as to state that no-one had informed them (implied asked their permission) I managed to get the addresses altered but no post-code included.

3) Logged onto a few sites where I buy stuff from time to time and made the changes myself online including adding the post-code (amazon, book depository, etc.)

4) Logged onto Apple and changed the address but again, no facility to enter or store post-code. I zipped off an email and got the standard "no one told me" guff from them. I wrote to the head-chef and bottle-washer so I await developments (Tim Cook, head-chef??) They have an online shop I've bought lots so sort it IF the post-code makes deliveries easier.

5) emailed Shannon about the now incorrect address on my car-registration document and had to send them the document to change my address despite not having moved - see what I mean, a PS project generating more work for the PS boys and girls? I could wait until motor tax renewal time and try to do it online but it may not work. I want to see if the PS asked the PS's permission to change my address and if PS Shannon can store and retrieve post-codes generated and issued by PS Somewhere else

6) Phoned the doc's office to change my address on their systems for scripts etc. The secretary, a pal of mine for a while did the necessary but had no field to store a post-code on any of her systems. I asked about informing the HSE and she was like "Hhhmm, not unless you've taken tranquillisers today and you really MUST make the change." A nod being as good as a wink, I moved on.

7) Logged on to the parcel motel and changed my credit-card details and my address and lo and behold, the accommodated EIRcodes BUT in the wrong format. An EIRcode is formatted "XXX XXXX", three characters space four characters. They only allow seven non blank characters. Good, lads, but not quite Carling.

8) phoned my mobile & broadband provider, Tesco. Two accounts two (different) addresses. "We're an e-billing company and don't issue paper bills so we don't need your address" Well missus you demanded ESB bills, bank statements, driver's licence and other stuff from me when I switched from PAYG to bill-pay, so fix it up now so I can use your utility bills with the correct address issued to me if requested by another corporate. Done eventually but life is too short for this nonsense on the phone.

There are a few places left but that's what I got done yesterday and today.

A few questions.

If as I have discovered the majority of organisation I contacted cannot store my post-code in order to reproduce it on documents or parcels, how can any of the supposed benefits accrue to me or to organisations "serving" me? I've heard reps from courier and haulage companies interviewed during the life of this project and each and every one I've listened to has slated EIRcodes as it doesn't address their key issue - Where is XXX XXXX and how can I get their quickest.

Did the Troika specifically approve the expenditure for this useless nonsense? Who benefits, apart for the excessively highly paid PS's? What were the alternatives and who evaluated them? Answers please, in a plain brown wrapper, to the Denis O'Brien fan-boy club, Leinster House.


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## PaddyBloggit (14 Jul 2015)

No need to bother _*mathepac*_ .... as you don't need to use it.

Just carry on as before and pretend eircode doesn't exist.

I don't know why people are getting into a flap about eircode ... just don't bother using it (I don't intend to).


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## Protocol (14 Jul 2015)

Mathepac,

your address does not change.  Eircode have said that, the Minster has said that.

You simply add the postcode onto the existing address.


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## Protocol (14 Jul 2015)

Mathepac,

what seems to have happened in your case, I suspect, is that your "post town" is in a different county than where you live.

This is common.

People living in Riverstown, Co. Sligo, their post comes via Boyle, Co. Roscommon.

Now, I'd say few people in Riverstown village add Boyle to their address as follows:

Riverstown,
Boyle,
Co. Sligo.

But, the Eircode system may do exactly that.

I guess that your village in Kilkenny is served by a "post town" in Tipp.

The 139 routing keys which are the first three characters in the postcode are for each "post town".


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## mathepac (14 Jul 2015)

Protocol said:


> ... your address does not change.  Eircode have said that, the Minster has said that...


My address *HAS* changed. The document received from EIRcode is addressed to "The Man, 101 An Estate, A Village, A Tipperary Town, County Tipperary". Indisputable fact. If I input the new post code to the EIRcode web-site i get that new address, the old address, which I've used for 8+ years, is no more.


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## PaddyBloggit (14 Jul 2015)

simples mathepac ... ignore the letter and carry on as before.

The whole post code issues is a wasted opportunity .... and 27 million euros down the drain. Another quango rises from the dust.


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## mathepac (14 Jul 2015)

PaddyBloggit said:


> No need to bother _*mathepac*_ .... as you don't need to use it.
> 
> Just carry on as before and pretend eircode doesn't exist.
> 
> I don't know why people are getting into a flap about eircode ... just don't bother using it (I don't intend to).


So why spend all the money, time and effort and issue all these codes and documents to every household and business in the country for nothing? Jobs for the boys. Either the project served some purpose and confers some benefit on the country as a whole or it was as I've already said simply a make-work exercise for the PS, like electronic voting machines, PPARS, the two scrapped projects the HSE ran for years to create a unique patient identifier (ever hear of a PPSN guys?), the judicial enquiries, etc.


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## demoivre (15 Jul 2015)

Loc8code would be a much better system to use imo and a code can be created for any location in Ireland, not just one with a letter box as with eircode ! Loc8 code also has an app for Android and Iphone that uses the smart phone's internal GPS to create a code for any location - handy if you come across an accident in an isolated spot as I did recently, and you need to give direction to emergency services..


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## T McGibney (15 Jul 2015)

Eircode is listing my address incorrectly too.  "Townland, Area, Cavan" instead of "Townland, Area, Co. Cavan"


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## JJDoherty (15 Jul 2015)

mathepac said:


> 7) Logged on to the parcel motel and changed my credit-card details and my address and lo and behold, the accommodated EIRcodes BUT in the wrong format. An EIRcode is formatted "XXX XXXX", three characters space four characters. They only allow seven non blank characters...



The blank character is removed when processed. If the field can hold 7 alphanumeric characters then the Eircode is valid!


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## mathepac (15 Jul 2015)

demoivre said:


> Loc8code would be a much better system to use imo and a code can be created for any location in Ireland,.


I've had a Loc8code for ages and saw the logic in using it for all purposes, but no, An Post had to do things differently. I mean look at their track record, they failed as a bank, they failed as a courier company - imagine they deliver letters and parcels daily and have done for decades, yet couldn't do the same job in competition with private companies.  Failing as experts or experts at failure?


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## JJDoherty (15 Jul 2015)

mathepac said:


> I've had a Loc8code for ages and saw the logic in using it for all purposes, but no, An Post had to do things differently. I mean look at their track record, they failed as a bank, they failed as a courier company - imagine they deliver letters and parcels daily and have done for decades, yet couldn't do the same job in competition with private companies.  Failing as experts or experts at failure?



An Post tendered for, as part of a consortium, the postcode system contract that was advertised internationally with the contract being awarded in the end to another consortium by the name of Capita Ireland, which includes Gamma.

The company responsible for the "Loc8code" did not tender independently or as part of a consortium for the postcode system contract. The algorithm, as that is what is it, that "Loc8code" uses does have it flaws and does not fit all the criteria required for a postcode type system even if it did tender for the contract.


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## Ceist Beag (15 Jul 2015)

seamless said:


> Hmm. I get an eircode for my address but the map points to the wrong house. I filled in the contact form to inform them of the error but I get "Error has occurred, please try again later" on submission.
> 
> Must try harder.


Same as that seamless, except that the Contact form now appears to be working so I sent them off a query to see if they can correct the map.


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## gianni (16 Jul 2015)

JJDoherty said:


> An Post tendered for, as part of a consortium, the postcode system contract that was advertised internationally with the contract being awarded in the end to another consortium by the name of Capita Ireland, which includes Gamma.
> 
> The company responsible for the "Loc8code" did not tender independently or as part of a consortium for the postcode system contract. The algorithm, as that is what is it, that "Loc8code" uses does have it flaws and does not fit all the criteria required for a postcode type system even if it did tender for the contract.



Pfffft.... less of the facts, it makes it harder to moan about the Eircode and give our barstool opinions...


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## Ceist Beag (16 Jul 2015)

Reply from Eircode to my query. Basically they're saying the map is wrong but the postcode assigned to our house is the correct one (they just put our housename on the wrong house in the map). Impressed with how quick they were to respond to the query!


> Sorry about the confusion. This is a mixup in our source data.
> 
> Since you have been on the Finder and found your house on the map, the correct Eircode for the address that you are residing at should be 'xxxx' and you can begin using that Eircode immediately. Eircodes are linked with geographic co-ordinates so you can write the address as you do now and include 'xxxx' as the last line on the address for domestic mail and as the second last line above the country for international mail. If you use your address as it is now with the Eircode 'xxxx', you will recieve your post correctly.
> 
> ...


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## grenzgebiet (16 Jul 2015)

Perhaps a tangential point but:
One of the things that surprised me was the amount of detail visible on the Eircode satellite map.
A few years ago when Google attempted to show detail like this in Germany there was an outcry and many streets had houses blanked over to ensure privacy.

On the Eircode website there is now a complete detailed view of everyone's land or garden. I can even count the bushes in mine, it's that detailed - vegetable patch, garden paths, gas tank - all completely visible for anyone to look at.   I can count the cattle and the number of bales in the neighbour's fields !
Eircode is looking directly into (private) property and publishing this information freely.

I don't like the idea of this type of information being so readily available and potentially falling into the wrong hands.  I guess it's available on other sources already, (Google earth doesn't give this detail on the area I live in), but now it's being publicised.

What does anyone else think ?   No privacy even in your own back garden anymore?


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## STEINER (16 Jul 2015)

The plus side is that I can see virtually over the neighbours' fences now...............


grenzgebiet said:


> What does anyone else think ?   No privacy even in your own back garden anymore?


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## Leo (16 Jul 2015)

grenzgebiet said:


> What does anyone else think ?   No privacy even in your own back garden anymore?



It's not like they're showing live real-time footage. It's a still that will likely only be updated every few years.


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## mathepac (20 Jul 2015)

I can confirm that the Driver & Vehicle Computer Services Division of Revenue and the Dept of Transport, Shannon, Co. Clare cannot / will not use post-codes or print post-codes on your RF101. I sent mine in to get the address changed as indicated in my OP. All correct but no post-code, but there is a QR code.

More indications that this exercise was a massive waste of time and money and that not even the other PS organisations want this nonsense. Is it all joined up yet IndaKinney?


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## Leo (20 Jul 2015)

It'll be adopted over time. Given the government's history of rolling out such initiatives, I wouldn't have been in any rush to invest significant money to modify an IT system to handle these codes before it was fully rolled out.


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## thedaddyman (20 Jul 2015)

Most of my customers are not updating their websites at the minute to accommodate Eircodes. My understanding is that they need to buy a licence to use the database from Eircode and most are not doing it at the minute due to the cost of the license, changes on their own systems to accommodate it and as one customer put it, " We'll wait for a year or so until all the problems and errors have been sorted out, and then we'll look at it"


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## Leo (21 Jul 2015)

thedaddyman said:


> Most of my customers are not updating their websites at the minute to accommodate Eircodes. My understanding is that they need to buy a licence to use the database from Eircode and most are not doing it at the minute due to the cost of the license...



Businesses here can choose to accept/store the postcode without any licencing, it's only if they want access to the full database to carry out validation on addresses or other activities they need to pay. That's the standard approach in most countries.

Any idea what the licence costs are here?


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## thedaddyman (21 Jul 2015)

Leo said:


> Businesses here can choose to accept/store the postcode without any licencing, it's only if they want access to the full database to carry out validation on addresses or other activities they need to pay. That's the standard approach in most countries.
> 
> Any idea what the licence costs are here?


Full costs here

https://www.eircode.ie/images/licencing-and-pricing-information-as-of-march-2015-published-v-1-0.pdf


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## Leo (21 Jul 2015)

Ouch, not cheap!!


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## mathepac (22 Jul 2015)

Maybe not cheap but it seems to work.

At 7:00pm on Thursday last 16/07/2015, I ordered and paid for a book on a UK website
The book was delivered in this morning's post (no idea of the time as I wasn't home) 22/07/2015

That's pretty good. I edited my details on my favourite sites to include my post-code (where the site allowed it) and this was one of the first.

The charge still hasn't hit my credit-card!! Well done all.


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## Leo (23 Jul 2015)

mathepac said:


> Maybe not cheap but it seems to work.
> 
> At 7:00pm on Thursday last 16/07/2015, I ordered and paid for a book on a UK website
> The book was delivered in this morning's post (no idea of the time as I wasn't home) 22/07/2015



I don't believe An Post are using the new post codes....


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## mathepac (23 Jul 2015)

That wouldn't surprise me, maybe they never will, but maybe UK organisations are using them to expedite deliveries to Ireland.


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## mathepac (10 Aug 2015)

On 4/8/2015 I wrote to Eircode using the webmail from their web-site.

"_Dear Unnecessary Quango

When I search for my Eircode, the house number highlighted on your map has the wrong number. In fact all of the houses in my part of the xxxxx Estate are incorrectly numbered. My Eircode is X99 YY88, my address is No. 9999 The Estate. The house number allocated to my house on your map is No. 9997. All the houses on the map are incorrectly numbered and are allocated a number which is 2 lower than the actual house-number._"

On 5/8/2015 Eircode wrote back to me

"_Dear Sir,

Thank you for contacting us to let us know that the houses in your estate are incorrectly numbered.  I have passed on your concerns to my supervisor who will look into this for you.

Regards,


Eircode
Capita Business Support Services (Ireland) Limited 
Phone: 0818 300005_"

But hold on, that's an anonymous call-centre / contact-centre replying to me with a non-geographic telephone number, presumably a private-sector organisation put in place to preserve the anonymity of the public-servants who should be dealing with this directly and identifying themselves in the process.

A bit of to-ing and fro-ing about that got me nowhere, surprise surprise. Today I got this:

"_Dear xxxxxxxx

*The address information source data that we use is provided to us by An Post Geodirectory* and therefore it is not possible for us to make any changes or amendments to this information ourselves - it needs to be updated at the source and then the changes will come through to us in a data update.

*The only thing that we can do from here is bring the request for a change to the attention of our data providers* – it will need to be updated at the source before any changes will be made in one of our data updates. This process can take some time and will not come into effect immediately.

Kind regards,


Eircode
Capita Business Support Services (Ireland) Limited 
Phone: 0818 300005_"

So Eircode was established solely to sell erroneous geo-data An Post already possessed. Also it seems An Post having failed as a bank and as a courier company now can't even get the correct house numbers associated with addresses their staff already deliver to.

If the basic data are erroneous, how can we rely on the services they purportedly support and how can any benefits accrue? Do we actually have anything now other than a €27 million bill? And an increase in the basic postage stamp to €0.70.


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## Guns N Roses (10 Aug 2015)

grenzgebiet said:


> One of the things that surprised me was the amount of detail visible on the Eircode satellite map.
> I guess it's available on other sources already, (Google earth doesn't give this detail on the area I live in), but now it's being publicised.



The aerial photography being used on the Eircode website doesn't belong to them. It looks like they're using Bing Maps which as you correctly stated is already out there.


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