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IE Address (ECAF)

Essential Elements​

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

Address Line One​

line_1string

Address Line 1

Address Line Two​

line_2string

Address Line 2

Post Town​

post_town

Schema not found.

Eircode​

eircodestring

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

Country​

countrystring

Full country names (ISO 3166)

Values
  • "Ireland"

Multi-Line Address Format​

Ready to print on envelopes and mailers

Address Line One​

line_1string

Address Line 1

Address Line Two​

line_2string

Address Line 2

Address Line THree​

line_3string

Address Line 3

Address Line Four​

line_4string

Address Line 4

Address Line Five​

line_5string

Address Line 5

Address Line Six​

line_6string

Address Line 6

Address Line Seven​

Example​

line_7string

Address Line 7

Address Line Eight​

line_8string

Address Line 8

Address Line Nine​

line_9string

Address Line 9

Premise Details​

Minute datapoints on the type of building and occupancy

Building Name​

building_namestring

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

Sub-Building Name​

sub_building_namestring

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

Example
Flat 1

Building Number​

building_numberstring

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

Building Group​

building_groupstring

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

Example
Marrian Terrace

Organisation information​

Extract commercial information attached to a property

Organisation​

organisationstring

Organisation name

Example
Oak Tree Limited

Department​

departmentstring

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

Example
Accounts Department

Locality information​

Primary Thoroughfare​

primary_thoroughfarestring

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

Secondary Thoroughfare​

secondary_thoroughfarestring

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

Primary Locality​

primary_localitystring

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

Secondary Locality​

secondary_localitystring

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

Tertiary Locality​

tertiary_localitystring

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

Unique Identifiers​

ID numbers to consistently and accurately reference property

Address Reference​

address_referencestring

The address reference is the An Post GeoDirectory address reference identifier used by the Universal Service Provider.

ID​

id

Schema not found.

ECAF ID​

ecaf_idstring

The unique identifier in the ECAF is the ecaf_id. This unique identifier allows each address in the ECAF to be uniquely identified. It can also be used as index once the data has been imported into a relational database. This is a numeric field that can store values from 0 to 2,147,483,647. It is represented as a number up to 10 digits long. All other fields in ECAF are alphanumeric.

Dataset​

datasetstring

Source of address

Miscellaneous​

Country ISO​

country_iso

3 letter country code (ISO 3166-1)

Values
  • "IRL"

Country ISO 2​

country_iso_2string

2 letter country code (ISO 3166-1)

Values
  • "IE"

Language​

language

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

Values
  • "en"
  • "ga"