DCU Postal Addresses & Eircodes
Introduction
Since its creation in 1975, initially as a National Institute of Higher Education, DCU has grown substantially in terms of its physical footprint. As of May 2023 it now extends across three academic campuses (with roughly seventy separate buildings), one research park (DCU Alpha) plus a number of sport facilities and grounds (e.g. the Morton Stadium).
Due to its size and complexity it is important that there is a system in place to manage the allocation of formal postal addresses and Eircodes across all campuses. The Office of the Chief Operations Officer (OCOO) is the unit responsible for managing that process.
The Office of the Chief Operations Officer (OCOO) has the sole authority within the University to engage with An Post with regard to the management of postal addresses, and by extension, Eircodes. No other unit of the University (e.g. academic, support, research or campus company) is permitted to do so.
The only exception to this principle is for unconnected third parties on campus who operate a business and therefore lease or rent space from the University. In this case they retain the right to manage their own affairs.
A unique postal address and Eircode will only be provided or sought for a University building or block where it can be determined as either:
a) housing a University function or operation
or
b) where it is a private residence.
If neither (a) or (b) above apply then the building or block is considered to be a ‘secondary building’ on campus and a unique postal address and Eircode will not be provided or sought.
Whenever possible only one Eircode should be in place for each University campus building or block that meets the qualifying criteria above. The creation of multiple Eircodes within the same building or block is to be avoided.
In such cases all entities within the building or block should ideally share the same Eircode (see Sharing of Eircodes below).
In practice, several separate units within the same University building or block may share the same postal address, and by extension the same Eircode, but obviously not the same initial first line, name or title.
This practice also applies to the residential addresses on University campuses. For example not every rented unit in the residential blocks has a unique Eircode but the individual residential blocks they are in do have unique Eircodes.
The impact of this is that is no longer possible to create separate unique Eircodes for different units of the University (e.g. schools, research centres, admin offices, drop off areas etc.) that are physically located within the same University building or block.
In so far as possible a University postal address should be aligned with the format of related or similar postal addresses in the local area.
In addition, the address will include the closest nearby thoroughfare i.e. the road by which the address can be physically accessed (e.g. some DCU Glasnevin Campus addresses are either ‘Collins Avenue Extension’ while others are ‘Ballymun Road’).
A specific guide on managing University Postal Addresses and Eircodes is solely available to staff within the Office of the COO.
Please see link below (Private File).
All queries or requests in relation to a University postal address or Eircode should be routed through the Office of the Chief Operations Officer using the email address below.