Addressing concerns... 10 years since the introduction of Eircodes
Eircodes, introduced as a way to deal with the challenges faced with non-unique addresses in Ireland are 10 years old.
Almost 300k addresses across Ireland now have their own unique eircodes.
Minister of State Charlie McConalogue
97% of research respondents were able to supply a validated Eircode for their address
Minister of State for Postal Policy and Sport, Charlie McConalogue TD, who has special responsibility for Eircodes at the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport, has heralded the ‘outstanding success’ of the postcode system as it marks its 10th anniversary.
In December 2013, Capita Business Support Services Ireland Limited, trading as Eircode, were awarded the contract to develop, rollout and operate the National Postcode System, which was formally launched in July 2015. A key driver for the introduction of Eircodes was to deal with the challenges faced with non-unique addresses in Ireland. These include difficulties encountered by the emergency services in locating addresses due to 35% of all properties in the state sharing an address with other properties. This is the highest figure in the OECD and has a particularly negative impact for people and businesses in rural Ireland who require better access to goods and services.
Speaking today, Minister McConalogue said:
“Since the launch of the National Postcode System, Eircode, their usage continues to grow. It is used widely among the public, businesses and public sector with independent research showing that 97% of respondents were able to supply a validated Eircode for their address. The continued use of the free-to-use Eircode Finder website, which has received 197 million look-ups since launch, further proves that Eircodes are utilised on a daily basis. I want to congratulate Capita Business Support Services Ireland Limited for the outstanding work they have done in operating Eircodes on behalf of the State, and I look forward to our continued partnership.”
Since the introduction of Eircodes 10 years ago, significant progress has been made in relation to the implementation of Eircode across the public sector, private sector and among the public.
Since the launch in July 2015, there have been:
197.3 million look-ups on the Finder
2m average monthly look-ups & 24 million look-ups in 2024
41,624 addresses assigned an Eircode in 2024
38,851 addresses assigned an Eircode in 2022
299k addresses received an Eircode since launch.
By the end May 2025, there were 2,651 business organisations and State Agencies licencing Eircodes within their business systems and operations across a wide spectrum of sectors, including logistics and deliveries, utilities, Sat Nav providers, hotel, retail telecommunications, insurance, financial and satellite navigation
Notably, shortly after the launch of Eircode, the National Ambulance Service (NAS) integrated Eircodes into their Computer Aided Dispatch system and actively encourage people who are seeking an emergency ambulance to have their Eircode available to pass it on to the call taker.