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New postal system for Irish towns and cities THE BRITISH
will soon have to crack the code when sending letters and postcards to
friends and loved ones in Ireland.
Recent Irish Government proposals plan to give every city, town and village
in the country its own postcode within the next two years.
The exact details of the postcode database have yet to be finalised but
the new codes will more than likely be a combination of letters and numbers,
similar to the county initials used for car licence plates.
For example, Cork addresses will start with C, Donegal with DL, Wexford
with WX, Sligo with SO, and so on.
Dublin is the only part of Ireland that currently has postcodes and those
are expected to remain the same.
Ireland itself is the only country within the EU, and one of the very
few developed countries that does not have a national postcode system.
Irish Post reader Sláine O’Sullivan has experienced few problems
when contacting family members in Ireland by post, but thinks a national
postcode system could help create a more efficient system.
By extending the postcode system outside of Dublin she feels it will be
easier to pinpoint places and country addresses.
The Kerry woman said: “There doesn’t seem to be very much
difference in the time it takes to deliver letters to either city or county
but new postcodes will probably improve the service in rural areas.”
British postcodes were first introduced by the Royal Mail over a 15-year
period from 1959 to 1974.
They are used not just for their original purpose of sorting mail but
for many other purposes including insurance premium calculations and as
a way to incorporate British locations and route planning technology.
The Irish Government is now pitching a similar plan to boost the troubled
postal service in Ireland.
The new system is expected to cost an estimated ?10m but should overcome
problems associated with incorrect addresses.
The introduction of postcodes is intended to boost the amount of mail
being sent and increase national competitiveness.
It will also make the postal sector more efficient and deal with the problem
of the same address popping up in different locations.
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