The CEO of a company that provides a geo-location service has said that linking farm buildings to location codes "isn't going to happen with Eircode".

There were renewed calls this month for the Eircode system to be extended to standalone farm buildings on the grounds of health and safety.

Farmer Dinny Galvin told Agriland of his unsuccessful attempt to obtain an Eircode for his farm building.

Galvin contacted GeoDirectory, which assigns buildings with precise postal and geographic addresses, to request an Eircode for his farm.

Gary Delaney, CEO of Loc8, said the issue is a longstanding one.

"The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) has been calling for the extension of Eircode to non-postal addresses since 2020. So that's five years ago and the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association (ICMSA) followed shortly afterwards. It's five years since farm organisations have been calling for an extension," Delaney told Agriland.

"[Loc8] is around since 2010 so we're a long time around the place and we engaged with IFA and ICMSA for quite a number of years, and Teagasc indeed," he added.

He said that Eircodes cannot be extended to non-postal addresses because it is based on GeoDirectory, which is an An Post product that uses postal addresses only.

According to Delaney, the use of Eircodes for postal addresses is not possible due to an apparent concern around generic mail, like flyers, being delivered to non-postal addresses.

Therefore, An Post is "exercising very strong controls" over what gets an Eircode, he said.

Loc8 generates permanent codes for a location, based on its geographic coordinates.

Delaney, who worked with farmers in the early 2000s installing GPS on tractors, said that the code, if a farmer uses it, should be printed on a laminated sign which is clearly visible in the farmyard, so that anyone who needs to call emergency services from the yard can see the code and call it out to the emergency phone operator.

"What I advocate for, especially on farms, is you would use the app now to identify the code for buildings you're occupying, or employees or other people are occupying; you would check it out to make sure it's correct; and put it on a sign at that location," he said.

"If someone then had to call an emergency...they are referring to a sign that already exists and people can be sure that it's ready to go and ready to use," he added.

The Loc8 system is integrated with the national ambulance service and its phone response and navigational systems, he said.

However, Delaney also said that Loc8 has been looking for engagement with government "for a long number of years" on the potential of using Loc8 in a farmyard setting.

"We were around long before Eircodes ever existed and unfortunately the arrival and preparations for the postcode and the arrival of Eircode, and everything since, has clouded the fact that we exist," he said.

"We do what Eircode can't do. We're kind of sitting here saying 'ye've forgotten about us'," Delaney added.

"What we're saying is we are not trying to steal the show here; we're just simply saying there's people asking for this, it's not going to happen with Eircode; they've been asking for five years and it hasn't happened to date, and we know why it can't happen," the Loc8 CEO said.

Loc8, which is accessed through a web app (i.e. not a downloadable app), is already used in a number of health and safety context, including on ring buoys near bodies of water, the ambulance service, and in HSE safety planning at industrial sites and similar places.

"Loc8 codes are already being used at an institutional level for health and safety," Delaney said.

"So Loc8 code is around, it's just people haven't heard about it, and it's not that we haven't tried, it's just that Eircode has been shouting louder, with more government support and a lot more money than us," he added.