IE Address (ECAF)

ECAF is the Eircode Address File, which holds one record per Irish postal address. English and Irish language versions of each address are indexed separately and distinguished by language.

Unavailable elements are returned as an empty string, never null. ECAF carries no coordinates, so longitude and latitude are always empty strings - use EcadAddress for geolocated Irish addresses.

Example Record

Field	Example	Type
id	ecaf_1700000000|en	string
dataset	ecaf	string
country_iso	IRL	string
country_iso_2	IE	string
country	Ireland	string
language	en	string
line_1	Apartment 4	string
line_2	The Mall	string
line_3	Riverside Way	string
line_4	Midleton	string
line_5	Co. Cork	string
line_6	P25 PR28	string
line_7	Empty in this example	string
line_8	Empty in this example	string
line_9	Empty in this example	string
ecaf_id	1700000000	string
department	Empty in this example	string
organisation	Empty in this example	string
sub_building_name	Apartment 4	string
building_name	Empty in this example	string
building_number	Empty in this example	string
building_group	The Mall	string
primary_thoroughfare	Riverside Way	string
secondary_thoroughfare	Empty in this example	string
primary_locality	Midleton	string
secondary_locality	Empty in this example	string
tertiary_locality	Empty in this example	string
post_county	Cork	string
eircode	P25 PR28	string
address_reference	4065432740654331	string
longitude	Empty in this example	string
latitude	Empty in this example	string

Every field is documented below.

Essential Elements

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

line_1 string

Address Line One

Address Line 1

Example Apartment 4

line_2 string

Address Line Two

Address Line 2

Example The Mall

eircode string

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 P25 PR28

country string

Country

Full country names (ISO 3166)

Example Ireland

Enum

• "Ireland"

Multi-Line Address Format

Ready to print on envelopes and mailers

line_1 string

Address Line One

Address Line 1

Example Apartment 4

line_2 string

Address Line Two

Address Line 2

Example The Mall

line_3 string

Address Line Three

Address Line 3

Example Riverside Way

line_4 string

Address Line Four

Address Line 4

Example Midleton

line_5 string

Address Line Five

Address Line 5

Example Co. Cork

line_6 string

Address Line Six

Address Line 6

Example P25 PR28

Address Line Seven

Example

line_7 string

Address Line 7

Example Empty in this example

line_8 string

Address Line Eight

Address Line 8

Example Empty in this example

line_9 string

Address Line Nine

Address Line 9

Example Empty in this example

Premise Details

Minute datapoints on the type of building and occupancy

building_name string

Building Name

The name given to the building, e.g. Rose Cottage. 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 Empty in this example

sub_building_name string

Sub-Building Name

The sub-building refers to an apartment, flat or unit within a building, e.g. Flat 1.

Example Apartment 4

building_number 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 numbers 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, 65, 66 The building number never appears on a line by itself and can prepend Building Group, Primary Thoroughfare or Primary Locality.

Example Empty in this example

building_group string

Building Group

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

Example The Mall

Organisation information

Extract commercial information attached to a property

organisation string

Organisation

Organisation name, e.g. Oak Tree Limited.

Example Empty in this example

department string

Department

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

Example Empty in this example

Locality information

primary_thoroughfare string

Primary Thoroughfare

The name of the thoroughfare on which premises are located, e.g. Griffith Road. 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 Riverside Way

secondary_thoroughfare 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 Empty in this example

primary_locality 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 Midleton

secondary_locality 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 Empty in this example

tertiary_locality 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 Phoist, 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 Empty in this example

Unique Identifiers

ID numbers to consistently and accurately reference property

address_reference string

Address Reference

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

Example 4065432740654331

ecaf_id string

ECAF ID

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.

Example 1700000000

dataset string

Dataset

Source of address

Example ecaf

Miscellaneous

country_iso string

Country ISO

3 letter country code (ISO 3166-1)

Example IRL

Enum

• "IRL"

country_iso_2 string

Country ISO 2

2 letter country code (ISO 3166-1)

Example IE

Enum

• "IE"

language string

Language

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

Example en

Enum

• "en"
• "ga"