Every tradesperson who works outside a town has done it. You drive out to a job, the address is a townland and a county, and there are four houses on the road that could be it. No number on the gate. No signal to ring the customer. Twenty minutes later you find it, or you don't.
An Eircode fixes most of that, but only if you get it on the first call. Here's how Eircodes work, why they matter so much on rural jobs, and what to ask every caller so you end up at the right door.
How an Eircode works
Eircode is the postcode system for the Republic of Ireland. It launched in July 2015, and every residential and business address gets its own code, rather than one code being shared by a street or a group of houses.
An Eircode is seven characters long, in two parts. Take A65 F4E2, the example Eircode uses itself:
- •The routing key, A65: the first three characters. It points to a principal post town, and every address in that postal area shares it. There are 139 of them
- •The unique identifier, F4E2: the last four characters. This is what separates one address from every other, and it's tied to where the building actually is
Two details are worth knowing. The codes aren't in sequence, so the house next door won't have a code one character off your customer's, and you can't work out one from the other. And the letter O isn't used anywhere in an Eircode, so it can't be mixed up with zero. If a caller says 'oh', they mean zero.
Why Irish addresses send you to the wrong house
The Government's Eircode page puts it plainly: over 35% of addresses in Ireland are non-unique, with no house name or number. Eircode's own FAQ says a non-unique address is often shared by several properties in the same townland. So Mrs Walsh, Knockane, Co. Limerick could be any one of a handful of houses, and if there's more than one Walsh on the road, you're knocking on doors.
The routing key on its own doesn't help much either. It covers a post town, and gov.ie notes that one routing key can be shared by several towns and townlands. A caller who gives you the first three characters has told you the general area, not the house.
Then there's Irish and English. Plenty of addresses have both versions, and a caller might give you one while your maps app knows the other. Eircode says the same code is used for both versions of an address, so it cuts across that too.
What an Eircode gives you on the road
Eircode says each code pinpoints the address's exact location on a map. That's the part that matters to you. Put an Eircode into the Eircode Finder, or a sat nav or maps app that takes them, and you're heading for the building, not the townland.
On a smartphone, the Finder has a Get Directions option that navigates you to the location. Emergency services use Eircodes for the same reason you should. Eircode says that giving one along with the address means they don't need to ask for directions.
For a tradesperson that means fewer wasted miles, fewer calls to the customer from a lay-by, and a better chance of turning up when you said you would.
When the caller doesn't know their Eircode
Most people know their Eircode or can find it in a minute. When they can't, there are a few ways round it.
- •Ask them to look it up on the Eircode Finder at finder.eircode.ie. They can search by address or find the house on a map
- •Look it up yourself after the call using the address and townland they gave you, then check the pin against what they described
- •If they've lost the letter Eircode sent them, it doesn't matter. Eircode says you don't need the letter to use the code, and every Eircode is on the Finder
The Finder is meant for occasional public lookups. Eircode says it isn't for commercial use and has a daily search limit, so don't plan your whole week's routes through it.
New builds can catch you out. Eircode says nobody needs to apply for one: an address gets its code once its details are in the database Eircode receives from An Post GeoDirectory. Until then there's no code. On the Finder map, no pink dot on a building means no Eircode has been assigned. For a new build or a site, you'll need directions, a landmark or a dropped pin from the customer instead.
What to ask on every call
Whoever answers your phone should get the same things every time, in a natural order:
- •Name and the best number to ring back on
- •The full address, including the townland and county
- •The Eircode, read back to the caller character by character
- •Anything that helps you find the house: the colour of the gate, the turn after the pub, the last house up the lane
- •Access: where to park, gate codes, dogs, whether someone will be home
- •Who owns the property if it's rented, and who to contact on the day
- •What the job is and how urgent it is
Reading the Eircode back matters. Seven characters over a bad line is easy to get wrong, and letters like B and D, or M and N, sound alike on the phone. Using words helps: D for Dublin, B for Bray. And there's no letter O, so that one's always a zero.
Ask for the Eircode early, straight after the name and number. If the call drops or the caller is in a hurry, you've already got what you need to find them.
Check it before you set off
Thirty seconds before you leave can save an hour on the road. Put the Eircode into your maps app and look at where the pin lands. Does it match the townland the caller gave you? Is it a house, or a field where a house is going up? If the routing key belongs to a different part of the county from the one they mentioned, ring them and check. One wrong character can put you on the far side of a mountain.
Working in Northern Ireland
Eircode only covers the Republic. If you work both sides of the border, callers in the North will give you a UK postcode, and that works differently. The Office for National Statistics says a UK postcode typically covers around 15 addresses, so you still need the house name or number to find the right door.
How Ringvox handles it
Ringvox answers your calls 24/7 when you're busy or don't pick up. It asks every caller for their name, what they need, their address with Eircode and a callback number. Within a couple of minutes you get a summary on WhatsApp and by email, so the Eircode is there in writing before you ring back. No scribbling it on the back of your hand at the wheel.
Every call is also saved in the portal with the recording and transcript, so if a character looks wrong you can listen back. You keep your own number and divert the calls you miss. Our guide on how to divert calls in Ireland has the codes, and the trades plan is €59 a month with 100 call minutes included.
FAQ
Q: What is an Eircode?
A: A seven-character postcode for an address in the Republic of Ireland. The first three characters are the routing key, which covers a postal area. The last four are the unique identifier for that one address.
Q: How do I find a customer's Eircode?
A: Use the Eircode Finder at finder.eircode.ie. You can search by address or find the property on a map. It has a daily limit on searches.
Q: Does every house in Ireland have an Eircode?
A: An address gets one once it's in the An Post GeoDirectory database that Eircode uses, and nobody has to apply. A brand new build may not have one yet.
Q: Is there a letter O in Eircodes?
A: No. Eircode leaves out the letter O so it is never confused with zero.
Q: Do Eircodes work in Northern Ireland?
A: No. Eircode covers the Republic only. Addresses in the North use UK postcodes.