Eircode discussion

ukoda

Sam Russell wrote: »

They could go with 'Enter Address/loc8/Eircode' - that would work.

My Garmin asks for 'Address/postcode' but it was bought in Currys - UK.

You'd have to imagine eircode wouldn't like that and would claim "confusion for customers" but yes it's a possibility.

ukoda

ukoda wrote: »

You'd have to imagine eircode wouldn't like that and would claim "confusion for customers" but yes it's a possibility.

And on the flip side, you'd imagine loc8 would fight tooth and nail to keep eircode off the Garmin devices as its no secret they hate it.

PDVerse

Eircode license their data to mapping providers. In terms of Sat-Navs TomTom use their own mapping data which is why they have licensed directly with Eircode. Others, including Garmin, license their data from Here (formerly Navteq). When Here have signed an agreement with Eircode the other Sat-Nav providers will negotiate with them if they want Eircode on their devices.

ukoda

PDVerse wrote: »

Eircode license their data to mapping providers. In terms of Sat-Navs TomTom use their own mapping data which is why they have licensed directly with Eircode. Others, including Garmin, license their data from Here (formerly Navteq). When Here have signed an agreement with Eircode the other Sat-Nav providers will negotiate with them if they want Eircode on their devices.

Do you have insight as to why a contract with HERE hasn't been signed yet, seeing as the other major players have all signed months ago? (So we've been told anyway)

ukoda

Another question for you, you may not want to answer this and that's fair enough

The Autoaddress app, are they absorbing the cost of the look ups from the end user and how sustainable is that if adoption scales up?

PDVerse

Autoaddress pays the license fee for all Eircode usage within the app. The maximum Eircode fee for any organisation (excluding mapping providers) is 30k per annum.

VARs aren't involved in any negotiations between Eircode and mapping providers.

ukoda

PDVerse wrote: »

Autoaddress pays the license fee for all Eircode usage within the app. The maximum Eircode fee for any organisation (excluding mapping providers) is 30k per annum.

VARs aren't involved in any negotiations between Eircode and mapping providers.

Ah! So no matter how popular the app gets the cost to a VAR is only ever going to be a maximum of 30k per annum, I get it now. So the payback on that spend is the exposure/advertising leading to new business generation. 30k per year is small potatoes in terms of an advertising spend. Well played.

TheChizler

Anger misdirected at Eircode today, surely Conradh na Gaeilge should be aware that the translations came from GeoDirectory and the issue is with them?

http://www.rte.ie/news/2016/0627/798393-an-coimisneir-teanga-report/

sondagefaux

TheChizler wrote: »

Anger misdirected at Eircode today, surely Conradh na Gaeilge should be aware that the translations came from GeoDirectory and the issue is with them?

http://www.rte.ie/news/2016/0627/798393-an-coimisneir-teanga-report/

Over 70 complaints out of a couple of million addresses - is that all?

GJG

TheChizler wrote: »

Anger misdirected at Eircode today, surely Conradh na Gaeilge should be aware that the translations came from GeoDirectory and the issue is with them?

http://www.rte.ie/news/2016/0627/798393-an-coimisneir-teanga-report/

In fairness, Conradh na Gaeilge have been perfectly clear that they support Eircode and are perfectly aware that the problems are with Geodirectory, not Eircode. The database has empty fields on the Irish-language version of some addresses. Attributing this problem to Eircode is as silly as the claim that Eircode 'has moved people to other counties'. Sloppy reporting.

plodder

GJG wrote: »

In fairness, Conradh na Gaeilge have been perfectly clear that they support Eircode and are perfectly aware that the problems are with Geodirectory, not Eircode. The database has empty fields on the Irish-language version of some addresses. Attributing this problem to Eircode is as silly as the claim that Eircode 'has moved people to other counties'. Sloppy reporting.

While it's true that Eircode can't do anything about the problem directly, this is a consequence of the Eircode design putting a direct link between addresses and Eircodes. It gives a status to postal addresses that did not exist previously, and presumably also to the Irish language version of those addresses.

To illustrate the point, I've heard of cases that have nothing to do with postal delivery, where people have gotten in to arguments with other service providers about their address. If the service provider is using an Eircode product, they may be reluctant to accept any form of address other the official one in Eircode.

Not saying there is anything much that can be done about it, but blaming it on Geodirectory is beside the point. It's probably the case, that over time, Eircode addresses will become the defacto official address, whether people like it or not.

Sam Russell

plodder wrote: »

Not saying there is anything much that can be done about it, but blaming it on Geodirectory is beside the point. It's probably the case, that over time, Eircode addresses will become the defacto official address, whether people like it or not.

Which is why they should have solved the non-unique addresses first or as part of Eircode. Also, the granularity of the routing part of the code is too large. They should have gone to the size of the SACs.

Bad design. Bad implementation.

ukoda

Sam Russell wrote: »

Which is why they should have solved the non-unique addresses first or as part of Eircode. Also, the granularity of the routing part of the code is too large. They should have gone to the size of the SACs.

Bad design. Bad implementation.

how exactly would they solve it? You'd have the same issue:

Resident: my address is ABC
An Post: no it's XYZ as that's your postal town.

Sam Russell

ukoda wrote: »

how exactly would they solve it? You'd have the same issue:

Resident: my address is ABC
An Post: no it's XYZ as that's your postal town.

Solving the non-unique address should have started a long time ago - at about the same time as they started planning the postcode.

First define the address format.
Name,
no. and Street name,
Townland,
Barony,
County.

Then assign small area code (SAC) to each area. The Central Statistics Office has these, and the OS also has these.

That is half the job done.

Where streets have no name, then planning office in the local council can invite suggestions or just give them numbers. House numbers are assigned on distance starting at one end.

It has to be done sometime and starting now gets it nearer to finishing.

ukoda

Sam Russell wrote: »

Solving the non-unique address should have started a long time ago - at about the same time as they started planning the postcode.

First define the address format.
Name,
no. and Street name,
Townland,
Barony,
County.

Then assign small area code (SAC) to each area. The Central Statistics Office has these, and the OS also has these.

That is half the job done.

Where streets have no name, then planning office in the local council can invite suggestions or just give them numbers. House numbers are assigned on distance starting at one end.

It has to be done sometime and starting now gets it nearer to finishing.

You still haven't solved the problem of "I don't accept that address"

FishOnABike

Eircodes should never have been designed to include the letters j,k,q,v,w,x,y,z - they are not in the Irish alphabet. How do you write (or pronounce) an Irish address with characters that are not part of languages alphabet?

An entirely numeric code (as used in a number of other countries) would have been language agnostic.

ukoda

FishOnABike wrote: »

Eircodes should never have been designed to include the letters j,k,q,v,w,x,y,z - they are not in the Irish alphabet. How do you write (or pronounce) an Irish address with characters that are not part of languages alphabet?

An entirely numeric code (as used in a number of other countries) would have been language agnostic.

No ones actually objecting to the code in this instance. It's the address attached to the code that people complained about

GJG

plodder wrote: »

GJG wrote: »

In fairness, Conradh na Gaeilge have been perfectly clear that they support Eircode and are perfectly aware that the problems are with Geodirectory, not Eircode. The database has empty fields on the Irish-language version of some addresses. Attributing this problem to Eircode is as silly as the claim that Eircode 'has moved people to other counties'. Sloppy reporting.

While it's true that Eircode can't do anything about the problem directly, this is a consequence of the Eircode design putting a direct link between addresses and Eircodes. It gives a status to postal addresses that did not exist previously, and presumably also to the Irish language version of those addresses.

Not saying there is anything much that can be done about it, but blaming it on Geodirectory is beside the point. It's probably the case, that over time, Eircode addresses will become the defacto official address, whether people like it or not.

No, it's a consequence of inaccuracies in GeoDirectory database. Blaming Geodirectory is exactly the point. Blaming Eircode for something that they have no control over is just silly.

Sam Russell wrote: »

Which is why they should have solved the non-unique addresses first or as part of Eircode.

Why?

As has been explained, the intense attachment to conflicting townland and city district names would make that a decades-long project vulnerable to intense lobbying and messy compromises.

How, other than an anti-everything throwing-your-toys-out-of-the-pram tantrum can you justify demanding that nobody is allowed to have a postcode until your pet project is completed? What makes your demand so special? There is nothing about Eircode that makes it more or less feasible.

FishOnABike

ukoda wrote: »

No ones actually objecting to the code in this instance. It's the address attached to the code that people complained about

I am. An Irish address should be written in Irish. Not some mish-mash mongrel. Using a numeric code would have been language agnostic. As one poster pointed out issues with missing information in the geodirectory affecting a number of Irish language addresses I am pointing out another oversight regarding Irish language addresses.

I am aware that a properly functioning and properly used eircode should make the postal town / postal county issue redundant as post should be sorted and routed by eircode with different delivery services possibly routing via different towns or counties depending on their own logistics. All addresses could then reflect where a place actually is rather than how one or other delivery service gets something to them.

GJG

FishOnABike wrote: »

ukoda wrote: »

No ones actually objecting to the code in this instance. It's the address attached to the code that people complained about

I am. An Irish address should be written in Irish. Not some mish-mash mongrel. Using a numeric code would have been language agnostic. As one poster pointed out issues with missing information in the geodirectory affecting a number of Irish language addresses I am pointing out another oversight regarding Irish language addresses.

I am aware that a properly functioning and properly used eircode should make the postal town / postal county issue redundant as post should be sorted and routed by eircode with different delivery services possibly routing via different towns or counties depending on their own logistics. All addresses could then reflect where a place actually is rather than how one or other delivery service gets something to them.

Eircode is language-independent. Although they have been misreported in the press, Conradh na Gaeilge are very happy with Eircode. I know - I asked them.

Their problem is that the Geodirectory has about 50k errors in a database of 2.1m. At well below three percent, that might not seem drastic, but they seem to be concentrated in the Irish language addresses, which is what concerns CnaG, reasonably enough. CnaG themselves have made it perfectly clear to anyone willing to listen that they support Eircode, but that doesn't seem to influence people who desperately want everything from Geodirectory errors to flooding on the Shannon to be the fault of Eircode.

ukoda

GJG wrote: »

Eircode is language-independent. Although they have been misreported in the press, Conradh na Gaeilge are very happy with Eircode. I know - I asked them.

Their problem is that the Geodirectory has about 50k errors in a database of 2.1m. At well below three percent, that might not seem drastic, but they seem to be concentrated in the Irish language addresses, which is what concerns CnaG, reasonably enough. CnaG themselves have made it perfectly clear to anyone willing to listen that they support Eircode, but that doesn't seem to influence people who desperately want everything from Geodirectory errors to flooding on the Shannon to be the fault of Eircode.

They blamed it on Eircode in interviews. Do they feel they'll get more attention if they do that? It is fashionable to bash eircode at the moment

plodder

ukoda wrote: »

They blamed it on Eircode in interviews. Do they feel they'll get more attention if they do that? It is fashionable to bash eircode at the moment

I suppose because much of the bashing is justified, then it's easy to jump on the bandwagon. And maybe instead of just passing the buck, a better way forward might be for Eircode to engage with CnaG to identify the errors and pass them on to its suppliers at An Post Geodirectory.

Sam Russell

ukoda wrote: »

You still haven't solved the problem of "I don't accept that address"

That is exactly what is being complained about by the Gaelgors.

It should not be An Post that determines the official address, particularly if it points to a different county.

PDVerse

@FishOnABike
On the question of using alphabet letters not traditionally used in the Irish alphabet (JKQVWXY & Z), these letters have actually become in general use in Irish now (see breis.focloir.ie/en/fgb/) and the rationale of their use is solely as data, and not relating to existing placenames.

FishOnABike

PDVerse wrote: »

@FishOnABike
On the question of using alphabet letters not traditionally used in the Irish alphabet (JKQVWXY & Z), these letters have actually become in general use in Irish now (see breis.focloir.ie/en/fgb/) and the rationale of their use is solely as data, and not relating to existing placenames.

Their use is usually restricted to loanwords or mathematical / scientific terms adopted from a foreign language. They are not used in native Irish words. I know language changes over time but the use of relatively few gaelicised foreign words does not make the letters part of the Irish alphabet any more than the myriad of loanwords with accented letters in the English language means English includes umlauts, accute, grave and all the other accents, etc.

In my view the use of jkqvwxyz in eircodes is not language neutral. Using a numeric code would have been.

I realise CnaG's issue is with Irish address / placename errors in the geodirectory and not the eircode itself. The use of non Irish letters by eircode in a country whose first language (in theory if not in practice) is Irish and in which a small but significant minority speak Irish in their daily life, could be seen as an oversight in the eircode design.

a65b2cd

FishOnABike wrote: »

language neutral. Using a numeric code would have been.

I would have preferred the routing keys to be based on Irish placenames and county based routing keys rather than the very inconsistently sized current ones. Opportunities were lost by following the An Post delivery areas.

PDVerse

@FishOnABike
I appreciate you have a different opinion. The post I provided earlier was the advice provided to Eircode by Foras na Gaelige, perhaps I should have made that clearer.

FishOnABike

PDVerse wrote: »

@FishOnABike
I appreciate you have a different opinion. The post I provided earlier was the advice provided to Eircode by Foras na Gaelige, perhaps I should have made that clearer.

Sure if everyone thought exactly the same the world would be a very boring place.;)

oscarBravo

Sam Russell wrote: »

First define the address format.
Name,
no. and Street name,
Townland,
Barony,
County.

There are three different townlands called "Coolcran" in the barony of Tirawley in County Mayo.

I really wish people would stop pretending that complex problems have simple answers.

sondagefaux

FishOnABike wrote: »

PDVerse wrote: »

@FishOnABike
On the question of using alphabet letters not traditionally used in the Irish alphabet (JKQVWXY & Z), these letters have actually become in general use in Irish now (see breis.focloir.ie/en/fgb/) and the rationale of their use is solely as data, and not relating to existing placenames.

Their use is usually restricted to loanwords or mathematical / scientific terms adopted from a foreign language. They are not used in native Irish words. I know language changes over time but the use of relatively few gaelicised foreign words does not make the letters part of the Irish alphabet any more than the myriad of loanwords with accented letters in the English language means English includes umlauts, accute, grave and all the other accents, etc.

In my view the use of jkqvwxyz in eircodes is not language neutral. Using a numeric code would have been.

I realise CnaG's issue is with Irish address / placename errors in the geodirectory and not the eircode itself. The use of non Irish letters by eircode in a country whose first language (in theory if not in practice) is Irish and in which a small but significant minority speak Irish in their daily life, could be seen as an oversight in the eircode design.

Is an Eircode a native Irish word?

Padster90s

FishOnABike wrote: »

Eircodes should never have been designed to include the letters j,k,q,v,w,x,y,z - they are not in the Irish alphabet. How do you write (or pronounce) an Irish address with characters that are not part of languages alphabet?

An entirely numeric code (as used in a number of other countries) would have been language agnostic.

Well if that is your thinking, what are your feelings on car reg plates, Numerical too? The Irish alphabet is to limiting, only 19 letters. J K Q V W X Y Z should be used in postcodes, they're distinguishing from other letters that look like numbers. I'm with you in the numbers though. It would have been better all numbers based on the landline codes that most people are already very familiar with.

GJG

FishOnABike wrote: »

PDVerse wrote: »

@FishOnABike
On the question of using alphabet letters not traditionally used in the Irish alphabet (JKQVWXY & Z), these letters have actually become in general use in Irish now (see breis.focloir.ie/en/fgb/) and the rationale of their use is solely as data, and not relating to existing placenames.

Their use is usually restricted to loanwords or mathematical / scientific terms adopted from a foreign language. They are not used in native Irish words. I know language changes over time but the use of relatively few gaelicised foreign words does not make the letters part of the Irish alphabet any more than the myriad of loanwords with accented letters in the English language means English includes umlauts, accute, grave and all the other accents, etc.

In my view the use of jkqvwxyz in eircodes is not language neutral. Using a numeric code would have been.

I realise CnaG's issue is with Irish address / placename errors in the geodirectory and not the eircode itself. The use of non Irish letters by eircode in a country whose first language (in theory if not in practice) is Irish and in which a small but significant minority speak Irish in their daily life, could be seen as an oversight in the eircode design.

In fact the letters J and Q are not used in Eircodes. Only 15 of the letters of the alphabet are used; the exclusions are for a variety of reasons, such as sounding too similar, being prone to confusion when said on the telephone, and being prone to visual confusion either by eye or optical scanning. Source.

The fact that you haven't bothered to check what you are complaining about, or take into account that there are other, more pressing reasons to select the letters used, or even pay attention to the fact that you are assuming that you should be the arbiter of what is acceptable for Irish speakers ahead of both Conradh na Gaeilge and Foras na Gaeilge doesn't support your argument.

Eircode must be suitable for a wide variety of uses. The problem with the monomaniacs is that they focus on their pet peeve with total disregard for other uses, such as insisting that Eircode should represent the Irish-language name of the county. A moment's thought should show how impractical that is - which county should get 'C'? Ceatharlach, Cabh n, Cl r, Corcaigh, Ciarra , Cill Dara, Cill Chainnigh or Cill Mhant in?

a65b2cd

Any choice was possible for the routing keys - Irish county names could have been used as the basis for them but of course it requires a little flexibility and imagination and not a rant. We have meaningless routing key codes that inhibit adoption. I would have preferred more meaningful codes even if they were in Arabic.

plodder

The problem with the monomaniacs..

There seems to have been a fear that anything useful that would have captured the imagination of the public, would have been mired in controversy. So, the answer was to go with something opaque and meaningless.

In all probability, just like with the car reg system, there would have been complaints from some Irish language zealotsenthusiasts, but the law is clear enough that either language can be used for specific purposes, and most people would have been happy with it.

FishOnABike

sondagefaux wrote: »

Is an Eircode a native Irish word?

No an Eircode is not a native Irish word. An Eircode is a code, not a word in any language.

The word 'Eircode' is a new word which did not exist in any language before our delivery address code system was conceived. As an entirely new word it is as new to one language as another and as chance would have it can be spelt using only characters of the Irish alphabet.

gctest50

FishOnABike wrote: »

No an Eircode is not a native Irish word. An Eircode is a code, not a word in any language.

The word 'Eircode' is a new word which did not exist in any language before our delivery address code system was conceived. As an entirely new word it is as new to one language as another and as chance would have it can be spelt using only characters of the Irish alphabet.

That'd never be enough though so ...... Aercód ............

FishOnABike

gctest50 wrote: »

That'd never be enough though so ...... Aercód ............

Ahhh sure, you couldn't be certain it was an Irish word without at least one fada in it somewhere. The rot started with doing away with the seancló , there was no ambiguity then.;)

sondagefaux

FishOnABike wrote: »

sondagefaux wrote: »

Is an Eircode a native Irish word?

No an Eircode is not a native Irish word. An Eircode is a code, not a word in any language.

So what's the big deal about which characters are used in Eircodes?

plodder

http://www.rte.ie/news/2016/0714/802305-eircode/

A report by Capita, the company that helped set up the system, stated in 2014 that random codes would avoid "postcode discrimination", which happened in Britain and that area-based or sequential codes would have to be updated to cater for new developments.

Still peddling the same nonsense. The post code design board didn't come to that conclusion - rightly. Does anyone really believe that service providers didn't discriminate on the basis of address just because we had no postcodes before and now that we do, because they are random?

The only difference is you can see it with a structured code, but you can't see it with Eircode. It (might) still happen either way. While it might make the odd headline in the Daily Mail, I seriously doubt that anyone involved in the UK postcode would accept that they should have used a random code like us, to avoid "postcode discrimination".

As for dealing with new developments, sure why don't we make street numbers random too, for the same reason? We don't have to because there are simple pragmatic ways of dealing with the occasional infill development. You just give new developments the next highest code, and accept that it isn't sequential in all cases.

The fact is that Autoaddress and Capita designed it that way to make life easy for themselves, as they have admitted, and also to force users to (directly or indirectly) use the Eircode databases, rather than freely obtain information from the code structure itself. Nobody ever thought to ask the public what they thought or wanted. The new minister has already accepted the code should have been hierarchical.

oscarBravo

You're still complaining about the design of the code, more than a year after it launched?

Dude. Let it go.

plodder

oscarBravo wrote: »

You're still complaining about the design of the code, more than a year after it launched?

Dude. Let it go.

Just reacting to what I see in the media today

Sam Russell

Criticism on RTE today

Basically saying that An Post deliberately got the design such that it was useless for their competition and they had no intention of using it. He cited Autoaddress (he described as part of the design team) who have produced two systems that compete (one based on SAC and the other on 'which three words'). Sounds plausible to me.

The design could be saved by making the routing key part cover a much smaller area. This need not be done in one go - it could be done region by region starting with the largest routing key areas.

SPDUB

Sam Russell wrote: »

Criticism on RTE today

Basically saying that An Post deliberately got the design such that it was useless for their competition and they had no intention of using it. He cited Autoaddress (he described as part of the design team) who have produced two systems that compete (one based on SAC and the other on 'which three words'). Sounds plausible to me.

That link doesn't say what you appear to be saying it says

You appear to be be quoting other reports on RTE that are not in that link

Sam Russell

SPDUB wrote: »

That link doesn't say what you appear to be saying it says

You appear to be be quoting other reports on RTE that are not in that link

It was on the O'Rouke Today programme. The Eircode bit is available as a podcast - not sure how to link to it.

Podcasts are available here. Go to the one labelled 'Eircode'.

It is all over RTE today - mostly unfavourable.

SPDUB

Sam Russell wrote: »

It was on the O'Rouke Today programme. The Eircode bit is available as a podcast - not sure how to link to it.

Podcasts are available here. Go to the one labelled 'Eircode'.

It is all over RTE today - mostly unfavourable.

Yes .

I have noticed RTE doing a hatchet job ( not questioning the Freight spokeswoman when she said Eircode gives false results on Sat Nav's then changing her words to "it will give false results " )

Sam Russell

SPDUB wrote: »

Yes .

I have noticed RTE doing a hatchet job ( not questioning the Freight spokeswoman when she said Eircode gives false results on Sat Nav's then changing her words to "it will give false results " )

Eircode is not on any Satnav that I know of so it cannot give false results.

However, it was mentioned that construction sites do not have Eircodes and cannot get them. - True.
Eircode was not going to be used by An Post - at least outside their automated sorting offices. - True.
Eircode was opposed by An Post and the communications workers Union. - Apparently True.
Eircode did not follow the hierarchy design rules they were given. - True.
Eircode is not on Satnavs or Google maps despite promises. Not good.
Eircode was due to cost €25m but looks like the figure will be €38m. Not good.

However it is used by some state services like ambulances. So that is good.
It is used by SUSI and saves lots of office time. That is good.
It should cut down on welfare fraud. That is good.
It should be of great use to Revenue. That is good.

So overall - first anniversary and still along way to go, but might get there in the end. Pity we cannot find an app or Satnav to get us there.

Bray Head

I listened to the fella from the FTA on Sean O'Rourke. It was totally bizarre. He actually made that point that something to be integrated with technology was needed (implying that a hierarchical code wasn't strictly necessary) but that his members couldn't use eircode for route optimisation.

Then he started waffling on about how members would use some tool which involves the geo-coordinates of addresses in the geodirectory. It was totally nonsensical. O'Rourke is generally pretty sharp but he didn't really know enough to pull the guy up.

If this crowd go the way of the dodo I wouldn't be bothered. Any firm that actively resists a technology that can make it more efficient will not be around for very long.

gctest50

Sam Russell wrote: »

However, it was mentioned that construction sites do not have Eircodes and cannot get them. - True.

there's a flag for that so........ soooon :

https://www.autoaddress.ie/support/developer-centre/api/get-ecad-data


underConstruction
boolean

Flag to denote if a building is under construction

holidayHome
boolean

Flag to denote holiday homes

or you can give it co-ordinates and a distance and it'll return stuff for you

http://ws.postcoder.com/pcw/PCW45-12345-12345-1234X/rgeo/ie/53.332067/-6.255492?distance=500



.

Sam Russell

gctest50 wrote: »

there's a flag for that so........ soooon :




or you can give it co-ordinates and a distance and it'll return stuff for you

http://ws.postcoder.com/pcw/PCW45-12345-12345-1234X/rgeo/ie/53.332067/-6.255492?distance=500



.

Your link does not work.

plodder

https://www.rte.ie/radio1/today-with-sean-o-rourke/programmes/2016/0714/802359-today-with-sean-o-rourke-thursday-14-july-2016/?clipid=2231468%232231468

Bray Head wrote: »

I listened to the fella from the FTA on Sean O'Rourke. It was totally bizarre. He actually made that point that something to be integrated with technology was needed (implying that a hierarchical code wasn't strictly necessary)

I didn't hear that at all ...

Then he started waffling on about how members would use some tool which involves the geo-coordinates of addresses in the geodirectory. It was totally nonsensical. O'Rourke is generally pretty sharp but he didn't really know enough to pull the guy up.

He was talking about a system based on the Geodirectory which already has addresses and geocodes in it. It was a good point actually. If you already have a system based on geodirectory why bother with Eircode when so few people are bothering to use their code?

O'Rourke was a bit taken aback by his suggestion that An Post deliberately crippled the design, but he argued the point well. It's actually hard to explain this kind of stuff in sound bites, but it was quite a good interview.