The logistics of farming would be made much easier by assigning Eircodes to land parcels and non-residential farmyards not included in the current Eircode system, the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) has said.

ICMSA vice-president Denis Drennan said that doing so would make farm deliveries easier and improve communication with the emergency response to farm incidents.

“If we could change and extend the system to specific parcels of land, then it would make the logistics of farming that much easier,” argued Drennan.

Land fragmentation

The dairy farmer stated that the emergency response to a farm incident is made particularly difficult because of fragmented farm structures.

“Irish farming is noted for its fragmented structure, with many farmers having multiple parcels of land, in many cases quite small parcels of land,” he added.

“With emergency services now routinely requesting Eircodes to facilitate quicker response time, it’s time to consider the possibility of serious farm accidents becoming even more serious and fraught because the field or yard doesn’t have the code that can get the response there as fast as possible.

“We think that this is a straightforward option and if it saves five minutes [of] emergency response and somebody’s arm or leg, or God forbid their life, then wasn’t it worth it?”