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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

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

Example

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

Minute datapoints on the type of building and occupancy

Building Name

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

Extract commercial information attached to a property

Organisation

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

Unique Identifiers

ID numbers to consistently and accurately reference property

Address Reference

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

Property Name

address_reference

Type

string

ID

Property Name

id

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.

Property Name

ecaf_id

Type

string

Dataset

Source of address

Property Name

dataset

Type

string

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

Address Line 1

Property Name

language

Type

string