Skip to main content

IE Address (ECAD)

ECAF file including additional data for each address.

Essential Elements

Standard Republic of Ireland Address format as reported by the Eircode ECAF file.

Address Line One

Address Line 1

Property Name

line_1

Type

string

Address Line Two

Address Line 2

Property Name

line_2

Type

string

Post Town

Property Name

post_town

Eircode

The seven character Eircode has an A65 F4E2 format. The Eircode is a mandatory address element. The last line of a Postal Address will contain the Eircode, displayed with a space. e.g. A65 F4E2.

The Eircode is always the last line of a Postal Address generated within the state, e.g. if an address has four lines then the Eircode will be on its own on Address Line 5. For inbound international mail the country name IRELAND should be appended as the last line of the Postal Address.

Example

A65 R2AF

Property Name

eircode

Type

string

Country

Full country names (ISO 3166)

Property Name

country

Type

string

Possible Values

  • "Ireland"

Multi-Line Address Format

Ready to print on envelopes and mailers

Address Line One

Address Line 1

Property Name

line_1

Type

string

Address Line Two

Address Line 2

Property Name

line_2

Type

string

Address Line THree

Address Line 3

Property Name

line_3

Type

string

Address Line Four

Address Line 4

Property Name

line_4

Type

string

Address Line Five

Address Line 5

Property Name

line_5

Type

string

Address Line Six

Address Line 6

Property Name

line_6

Type

string

Address Line Seven

Address Line 7

Property Name

line_7

Type

string

Address Line Eight

Address Line 8

Property Name

line_8

Type

string

Address Line Nine

Address Line 9

Property Name

line_9

Type

string


Premise Details

The name given to the building. Prepended by sub building, if any, when the sub building does not appear on a line to itself. The building name is omitted if it is the same as either the Organisation or Building Group.

Example

Rose Cottage

Property Name

building_name

Type

string

Sub-Building Name

The sub-building refers to an apartment, flat or unit within a building.

Example

Flat 1

Property Name

sub_building_name

Type

string

Building Number

A number associated with the whole building. The building number may have a numeric and an alphanumeric component, which are concatenated e.g. 2A, or alternatively will have a simple building number or a complex building number. The building number always relates to the whole building and not a sub-unit within it. A complex building number may be one of the following:

  • Dual. Two number separated by '/' e.g. 63/64 = 63, 64
  • Sequence. An odd or even sequence of numbers with lower and upper bound separated by an underscore '_' e.g. 1_5 = 1,3,5 and 2_6 = 2,4,6
  • Range. A range of consecutive numbers with lower and upper bound separated by a dash '-' e.g. 63-66 = 63, 64, 56, 66 The building number never appears on a line by itself and can prepend Building Group, Primary Thoroughfare or Primary Locality.

Example

22

Property Name

building_number

Type

string

Building Group

A building group is a collection of buildings with a collective name, located on or near the same thoroughfare.

Example

Marrian Terrace

Property Name

building_group

Type

string


Organisation information

Organisation name

Example

Oak Tree Limited

Property Name

organisation

Type

string

Department

The department or division within an organisation. If the department element exists, then the organisation must also exist.

Example

Accounts Department

Property Name

department

Type

string


Locality information

Primary Thoroughfare

The name of the thoroughfare on which premises are located. It may appear on a line by itself or be appended to either a sub building or building number.

Addresses with thoroughfares can sometimes have the thoroughfare excluded where a Building Group exists, such as a Retail Centre or Business Park, and the thoroughfare is not part of the Postal Address.

Example

Griffith Road

Property Name

primary_thoroughfare

Type

string

Secondary Thoroughfare

It is never present without a primary thoroughfare. The primary thoroughfare is dependent on the secondary thoroughfare and appears before the secondary thoroughfare in any address.

Secondary thoroughfare are generally used to assist locating a primary thoroughfare.

Example

Navan Road

Property Name

secondary_thoroughfare

Type

string

Primary Locality

First locality elements which can refer to areas, districts, industrial estates, towns, etc.

The primary locality refers to the specific place the address is.

In urban areas, the primary locality can be required to distinguish between two thoroughfares of the same name in the same district or town. Industrial estates with named thoroughfares are also held as localities. In rural areas the primary locality is generally a townland name.

Example

Cookstown Industrial Estate

Property Name

primary_locality

Type

string

Secondary Locality

Never present without a primary locality. The secondary locality has a wider geographic scope than the primary locality.

It is the secondary locality therefore which differentiates addresses with the same primary locality name within the same county.

Secondary localities are more likely to be required for rural addresses.

Second locality elements which can refer to areas, districts, industrial estates, towns, etc

The secondary locality helps identify where the primary locality is located.

Example

Manorhamilton

Property Name

secondary_locality

Type

string

Tertiary Locality

Also known as the Post Town.

The name of the post town associated with the premises for postal delivery purposes. This includes Dublin Postal Districts "Dublin 1" to "Dublin 24".

The post town is a significant element of the Postal Address, however it is not always populated in an address. The official post office guide, Eolaí an Phoist4, describes post towns in the following manner:

"A provincial postal address may include the name of a town or village several miles distant, with which the addressee has little or no connection, and, in some places, especially if this residence happens to be near a county boundary, the name of the neighbouring county instead of the county in which he actually resides. The explanation is that the main mail despatches have to be sent for more detailed sub division to certain centres known as POST TOWNS, chosen because of their accessibility and convenience."

Example

Dublin 14

Property Name

tertiary_locality

Type

string


Geospatial information

Rooftop longitude and latitude

Longitude

Property Name

longitude

Latitude

Property Name

latitude


Mail routing

An Post sorting information.

Property Name

postaim_presort_152

Type

string

Postaim Presort 61

Property Name

postaim_presort_51


Premise Type

Minute datapoints on the type of building and occupancy

Gaeltacht

Gaeltact refers to a district where the Irish government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant language.

Returns true if address is in a Gaeltacht area and false if not.

Property Name

gaeltacht

Type

boolean

Building Address Type

The building type can assume one of the following values:

  • Single Occupancy Residential Building. This type of building contains one residential address.
  • Multi Occupancy Residential Building. This type of building contains multiple residential addresses.
  • Single Occupancy Non-Residential Building. This type of building contains one non-residential address (business, club or other organisation).
  • Multi Occupancy Non-Residential Building. This type of building contains multiple non-residential addresses (business, club or other organisation).
  • Multi Occupancy Mixed Use Building. This type of building contains multiple residential and non- residential addresses.

Buildings can also have a more specific address types such as a Hospital, School, Shopping Centre, etc.

Property Name

building_address_type

Type

string

Address Type

Addresses points can assume one of the following values:

  • Residential Address Point. This type of address point has one residential addresses associated with it.
  • Non-Residential Address Point. This type of address point has one or more non-residential address (business, club or other organisation) associated with it.
  • Mixed Address Point. This is a special case where the residential and non residential addresses in the building are essentially the same address. The typical example is a farm house on an active farm. It is important to note that this is a special case. In general a building with both residential and non-residential addresses (e.g. an apartment over a shop) will receive two address points, one commercial and one residential, and hence two Eircodes.

Buildings can contain multiple address points of type Residential and/or Non-Residential.

Property Name

address_type

Type

string

Primary Locality Address Type

The locality type can be:

  • Rural Locality. This is generally a townland.
  • Industrial Estate. Industrial Estate, Industrial Park, Business Campus, etc.
  • Shopping District. Shopping Centre.
  • Housing Estate. Residential Housing Estate.
  • Village. Based on Census 2011 population < 1,500.
  • Town. Based on Census 2011 population > 1,500.
  • Urban Area. Wholly within a village/town/city e.g. Rathmines.
  • Suburban Locality. This is an area that is both rural and urban, as it is both a townland, and also an area name applied to houses in a town, as the town has extended partially into the townland.

Where the locality is also the post town, the type can be:

  • Village. Based on Census 2011 population < 1,500
  • Town. Based on Census 2011 population > 1,500
  • Postal District. Dublin 1 to 24
  • City. Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway or Waterford

Property Name

primary_locality_address_type

Type

string

Secondary Locality Address Type

The locality type can be:

  • Rural Locality. This is generally a townland.
  • Industrial Estate. Industrial Estate, Industrial Park, Business Campus, etc.
  • Shopping District. Shopping Centre.
  • Housing Estate. Residential Housing Estate.
  • Village. Based on Census 2011 population < 1,500.
  • Town. Based on Census 2011 population > 1,500.
  • Urban Area. Wholly within a village/town/city e.g. Rathmines.
  • Suburban Locality. This is an area that is both rural and urban, as it is both a townland, and also an area name applied to houses in a town, as the town has extended partially into the townland.

Where the locality is also the post town, the type can be:

  • Village. Based on Census 2011 population < 1,500
  • Town. Based on Census 2011 population > 1,500
  • Postal District. Dublin 1 to 24
  • City. Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway or Waterford

Property Name

secondary_locality_address_type

Type

string

Building Use

Can be one of:

  • R Residential
  • C Commercial
  • B Both
  • U Unknown

Property Name

building_use

Possible Values

  • "R"
  • "C"
  • "B"
  • "U"

Building Type

Describes the type of building, e.g. detached, semi-detached, bungalow.

Property Name

building_type

Type

string

Holiday Home

A Yes/No field, indicating whether or not the building is a holiday home.

Property Name

holiday_home

Possible Values

  • "N"
  • "Y"
  • ""

Vacant

A Yes/No field, indicating whether the building is vacant.

Property Name

vacant

Possible Values

  • "Y"
  • "N"
  • ""

Nace Category

Name of the NACE Category

Property Name

nace_category

Type

string

Publicity Post Zone

An Post publicity post zone information.

Property Name

publicity_post_zone

Type

string

Under Construction

A Yes/No field, indicating whether or not the building is under construction.

Property Name

under_construction

Possible Values

  • "N"
  • "Y"
  • ""

NUA

NUA means "non-unique address".

The NUA field contains true when the address is a non-unique address, and false when it is a unique address.

Ireland has a very high level of non-unique addresses (NUA), i.e. the address does not contain a unique building number or name. Approximately 35% of all Irish addresses are non-unique which equates to 600,000 addresses.

The typical example of NUA addressing is where every address in a townland is the same. The way that post is delivered is by local knowledge of postal delivery personnel of which addressee lives in which house.

N.B. For a NUA address, it is impossible to match to a unique record in the ECAD and assign an Eircode.

Property Name

nua

Type

boolean

Unique Identifiers

ID numbers to consistently and accurately reference property

ID

Property Name

id

Address Reference

Property Name

address_reference

Address Point ID

Address Point ID

Example

10098783

Property Name

address_point_id

Type

string

ECAD ID

Unique 10 digit ECAD ID

Example

17000000

Property Name

ecad_id

Type

string

NACE Code

The NACE Code for the Category.

Property Name

nace_code

Type

string

Gaeltacht ID

Unique Identifier for the 7 Gaeltacht areas 2017 data.

Note that this field is subject to breaking changes if a new generation of government data IDs is released. Currently this uses 2017 IDs. Contact us to be notified ahead of his change.

Property Name

gaeltacht_id

Type

string

Building ID

Building ID

Example

10098783

Property Name

building_id

Type

string

Building Group ID

Building Group ID

Example

10098783

Property Name

building_group_id

Type

string

Primary Thoroughfare ID

Primary Thoroughfare ID

Example

10098783

Property Name

primary_thoroughfare_id

Type

string

Secondary Thoroughfare ID

Secondary Thoroughfare ID

Example

10098783

Property Name

secondary_thoroughfare_id

Type

string

Primary Locality ID

Primary Locality ID

Example

10098783

Property Name

primary_locality_id

Type

string

Secondary Locality ID

Secondary Locality ID

Example

10098783

Property Name

secondary_locality_id

Type

string

Post Town ID

Post Town ID

Example

10098783

Property Name

post_town_id

Type

string

Townland ID

Unique Identifier for townland 2017 data.

Note that this field is subject to breaking changes if a new generation of government data IDs is released. Currently this uses 2017 IDs. Contact us to be notified ahead of his change.

Property Name

townland_id

Type

string

Post County ID

Post County ID

Example

10098783

Property Name

post_county_id

Type

string

Organisation ID

Organisation ID

Example

10098783

Property Name

organisation_id

Type

string

Small Area ID

Unique Identifier for the Small Area 2017 data.

Note that this field is subject to breaking changes if a new generation of government data IDs is released. Currently this uses 2017 IDs. Contact us to be notified ahead of his change.

Property Name

small_area_id

Type

string

Ded ID

Unique Identifier for Electoral Divisions 2017 data.

Note that this field is subject to breaking changes if a new generation of government data IDs is released. Currently this uses 2017 IDs. Contact us to be notified ahead of his change.

Property Name

ded_id

Type

string

Dataset

Property Name

dataset

Type

string

Possible Values

  • "ecad"

Miscellaneous

Country ISO

3 letter country code (ISO 3166-1)

Property Name

country_iso

Possible Values

  • "IRL"

Country ISO 2

2 letter country code (ISO 3166-1)

Property Name

country_iso_2

Type

string

Possible Values

  • "IE"

Language

Language represented by 2 letter ISO Code (639-1)

Property Name

language

Possible Values

  • "en"
  • "ga"