Without a Warning in Eircode "Public Service Announcement" All Involved could be Accused of Contributory Negligence

All of Ministers for Communication, their Officials & those involved in supporting Eircode are aware that the code can mis-route and cause delay. To date, they all have chosen not to warn the public and, as a result, Eircode can contribute to delays in delivering critical care to patients as shown in the tweet above. Because Eircode is promoted as being precise without any hint of this not being the case in some circumstances & cases, then those who use it in order to help save lives can become over reliant on its capability. Such over reliance can result in time delays that may not have otherwise happened.

It is for this reason that all those who are involved in Eircode, from the Minister right down to resellers, MUST be honest about limitations;- and, in particular, the potential for mis-routing. All that they  have to do is refer people to this website & tell them to check their code.  If mis-routing happens, then generating a Loc8 Code at a suitable location & using that when having to call the emergency services is all that is needed to resolve the issue.

For the last number of years Capita, through the Dept of Communications, has arranged for their Eircode ambulance advert to be broadcast as a Public Service Announcement on RTE. It normally happens around January to March each year. If it is a genuine Public Service Announcement as claimed, then it should be no problem for a warning to be included advising the Public to check their code before thy have to rely on it in an emergency. If this is not done, then there could be a legitimate claim of contributory negligence leveled against all those involved in the advert (Capita, the Dept of Communications & its Minister), if a known Eircode issue causes a delay & puts someone's life at risk. The same claim could also be leveled at RTE who broadcast it at the Public's expense.

Minister Eamon Ryan must now instruct that a warning be added to the Eircode ambulance advert before it is broadcast again as a Public Service Announcement in 2021.

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