Sir, – I refer to Minister for Communications Michael Naughten’s letter of February 15th regarding Eircodes.
It is very good that Ireland has, at long last, implemented a postcode system.
However, in defence of the particular methodology involved in designing Eircodes, he stated that British postcodes have changed since they were implemented. They haven’t; they evolved over some years. The British postcode system recently celebrated 40 years of operation.
I live in Northern Ireland. My postcode has never changed since it was issued more than 30 years ago.
:fill(white):background_color(white)/static.themebuilder.aws.arc.pub/irishtimes/1647534191476.png)
I know my postcode by heart. I know, or can deduce, because of the logic of the British postcode system, my neighbours’ postcodes.
Over the years, I have been able to redirect postmen, florists, undertakers and emergency services to the right place. I would not have been able to do so if I lived in Eircodeland. – Yours, etc,
WILLIAM HANNA,
Belfast.
A chara,– The United States has a population of over 320 million people. It seems to get by very well using a postcode of only five digits. Maybe if we had such a simple postcode too most of us would use it. – Is mise,
BEAIRTLE Ó CONGHAILE,
Dún Dealgan,
Co Lú.
Sir, – Cognitive neuroscience includes the study of the memorability of numbers and codes, and half a century ago related experts were employed to enhance the memorability of the UK postcode design.
Unfortunately the Eircode design document makes no reference to any memorability design adjustments, other than discussing the length of the code. Perhaps we should be assured by Liam Duggan, of Capita PLC, owners of the Eircode trademark, who told the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport & Communications in November 2014 that “As an exercise, we bought online Scrabble. We looked at all four- and three-letter words and so on”.
Unsurprisingly the result is a random and unmemorable code that is totally reliant on technology to render meaningful. In the event of a widespread data communications outage, the total lack of Eircode memorability and adjacency could spell disaster, not only for public or business users, but more importantly for our emergency services, which were never consulted on the Eircode design but are being forced to adopt it. – Yours, etc,
GAVIN TOBIN,
Rathcoole,
Co Dublin.
Sir,– Last December, on the same day, I sent two Christmas cards to two separate addresses in Dublin 14. On the first, I wrote the name and address in the “traditional” manner with no Eircode. On the second, I only wrote the name of the recipient and the Eircode for his house. They both arrived on the same day. It may not be widely used and it may not be overly popular, but it can’t be stated that it doesn’t work. – Yours, etc,
ROBERT LAIRD,
Cabra,
Dublin 7.