Capture, Validate & Standardise accurate address data for Ireland

There are roughly 800,000 non-unique addresses in Ireland – over 35% of properties share their address with at least one other property. This creates major difficulties in postal efforts, especially in rural areas, and often turns a simple delivery into a scavenger hunt. To help individuals and businesses overcome delivery challenges, the Eircode was introduced as Ireland’s National Postcode System, helping make postal deliveries more efficient.

Melissa’s Eircode Address Validation service captures accurate address data using Ireland’s advanced postcode platform, proven to be the most effective way to verify exact locations in the Republic of Ireland.

  • Access to ECAF & ECAD Eircode Database for Ireland’s advanced postcode platform
  • Enhance communication with customers to increase deliverability across the Republic of Ireland
  • Standardise incomplete addresses to meet Eircode’s formatting rules
  • Add Geolocation Coordinates for pinpoint location intelligence in Ireland

Try Eircode Address Lookup

Begin by typing an Irish address into the search bar and our Autocompletion tool will suggest a complete, verified postal address.

What is Eircode?

Until fairly recently, Ireland was one of the few developed nations without a postcode system. Approximately 800,000 addresses and over 35% of properties shared their address with at least one other property, meaning no house name or number existed for the majority of these premises.

In 2015, Eircode was introduced as Ireland’s brand-new advanced postcode system. Like most countries’ postcode structures which define a cluster of addresses, Ireland’s game-changing system gives the ability to locate every individual address or premise in the country by using a single code at the end of each address.

This ultimately removes the guesswork of finding addresses, not just good news for the Irish but a grand development for any business that holds Irish address data.

The Benefits of Eircode Data

Improved Logistics & Distribution Enables delivery companies to accurately identify a premise and pickup points, especially useful for the 35% of addresses that have no name or number.
Facilitate Better Planning Plan and provide services to any chosen sector or communities more efficiently with the accuracy of Eircode data.
Better Customer Service & Experience Enhance the online shopping experience by capturing accurate Eircode addresses at the point of entry on your website checkout. This ensures that only verified address data gets passed through to maximise speedy deliveries.
Brand Reputation Gain the competitive edge with Eircode address validation to drive better overall business success in Ireland.
Address Autocomplete - How Global Express Entry Address Autocomplete Works - United Kingdom

ECAF & ECAD Data

Melissa offers two Eircode data sets*. ECAF (Eircode Address File) is the base reference for all address points containing 2.2 million data points with Eircode’s and USP Postal Addresses. ECAD (Eircode Address Database) comprises ECAF and adds datasets for each premises like latitude and longitude geocoordinates, alias address information and building and boundary data.

*Please note that ECAF is a perquisite for purchase of the ECAD file.

Part of Our Global Address Verification Service

Keep Address Data Accurate - Here's How We Do It

Melissa's Global Address Verification (GAV) combines a global knowledge database with location reference datasets for over 240 countries and territories while using proprietary parsing rules to correct, validate and enrich both partial and full address inputs.

  • Correct, verify & standardise addresses for 240+ countries & territories.
  • Reduce address correction charges & costs of returned mail and parcels.
  • Flexible APIs (on-prem & Cloud) for real-time or batch processing.
Try Address Verification - United Kingdom

Frequently Asked Questions

Postcode and ZIP Codes are strings of numbers and letters that represent groupings of people in specific geographic areas; while they offer accurate insight to areas, they often cover multiple dwellings, which can make finding a customer’s correct address more challenging if houses are named rather than numbered.

The advantage of Eircode gives every address in Ireland its own unique number used to identify individual property and businesses. This is particularly handy when dealing with addresses in remote or newly built areas.

Eircodes are automatically assigned to all postal addresses in Ireland and added to the end of each address so residents don’t need to apply for an Eircode. The use of Eircode also isn’t mandatory, but many businesses offering logistics or shipping correspondence to Ireland are now asking for Eircode as a requirement.

Eircodes are assigned every quarter, currently in the months of February, May, August and November. When an Eircode is assigned, it is automatically available on the Eircode Finder and notification is posted to the address notifying the occupant of the Eircode.

Automatic updates are also followed on to licenced businesses and organisations who license the Eircode database.

Interested in Other UK Data Sets?

Royal Mail Postal Address File (PAF)

Containing over 1.8 million postcodes & 30 million businesses & residential addresses

Multiple Residence Data

Gain access to over 800,000 multiple residence households.

Not Yet Built (NYB) Data

Provides details to properties that are in the planning & construction stage.

Rooftop Geocode Data

Add precise rooftop geocodes (lat/long coordinates) for 95% of all physical addresses in the UK.


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