Eircode a great success story for residents and businesses countrywide – Ring

Eircode has been a great Irish success story, making life easier for people across the country through the accurate identification of properties and businesses, according to a Fine Gael TD.

Mayo Deputy Michael Ring praised the benefits of Eircode after it emerged that new identifying codes will be assigned to new properties on a monthly basis, as opposed to every quarter, which will lead to a more efficient and effective service for people.

Deputy Ring said: “Ireland’s National postcode System, known as Eircode, has grown into a huge success since its inception in 2015 and is widely used by members of the public and businesses in accurately locating properties and getting directions right across the country.

“Indeed, this can be seen in recent figures indicating that the free to use Eircode finder online website now has 2.5 million average monthly lookups.

“The value of Eircode was particularly evident during the pandemic when there was a rise in home deliveries and allowed better route planning and clearer travel times by providing exact geographic locations for An Post and other delivery providers.

“Around 35% of Irish addresses share an address with at least one other property, making it difficult to find the location of some properties[1].

“These dwellings are typically in rural Ireland which in the past have been challenging to find for people, with the caller often having to provide lengthy directions.

“But a unique seven-character alpha-numeric postcode is assigned to each residential and business postal address, meaning these properties are easier and quicker to find.

“Most importantly, this has been a gamechanger in life and death situations, with the National Ambulance Service (NAS) using Eircodes to locate an address in emergency, making it easier for an emergency call taker to quickly and accurately identify a caller’s location.

“The introduction of Eircode has rightly been credited with having the potential to save lives, in addition to the great benefits it has bestowed on members of the public, businesses and public services.

“Eircode has also proven its many detractors wrong, including commentators and opposition politicians who claimed the system would never work and was a waste of taxpayers’ money in the run up to it being rolled out eight years ago.

“Unsurprisingly the naysayers included the likes of Sinn Féin, whose then transport spokesperson said in 2014 that the postal code system could be “another Irish water” and that no trial had been carried out for such a fundamental piece of infrastructure[2].

“Sinn Féin have been wrong about many things when cold, hard facts are presented to them, and this includes the failure of Eircode, which is now thriving.

“Last month, it emerged that Eircodes would now be assigned to new addresses on a monthly as opposed to quarterly basis, which the Minister with responsibility for Eircodes, Jack Chambers TD, said would reduce waiting times for the assignment of codes and result in time and cost savings for people.

“I’m pleased that the Eircode project has delivered successfully for the people of Ireland and has made finding friends, families neighbours and businesses easier than ever before,” Deputy Ring concluded.

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^[1] https://www.eircode.ie/what-is-eircode

^[2] https://www.rte.ie/news/2014/1105/657111-eircode/

[1] https://www.eircode.ie/what-is-eircode

[2] https://www.rte.ie/news/2014/1105/657111-eircode/