Post Office criticised after it failed to send parcel with address in Irish

The parcel – which included the Eircode of the destination on it – was being sent by Belfast musician Gráinne Holland, who was then asked to translate the address into English, which the Post Office worker then wrote on the parcel instead.

A Post Office spokesperson said that the advice for any item sent internationally, which includes Éire, “has always been that the destination country has to be written in English.”

“It is an international regulatory requirement for parcels and large letters that contain goods that an electronic data customs file is required,” they told Belfast Telegraph.

“This file should include details of addresses. The Post Office computer system uses an English alphabet keyboard and therefore, the country and the address need to be in English,” the spokesperson said.

Pádraig Ó Tiarnaigh from Conradh na Gaeilge, however, told Belfast Telegraph that this isn’t the first time the Post Office and Royal Mail has been criticised for failing to deliver a letter sent in Irish.

In 2018, Piarais Mac Alastair took to Twitter after a letter he sent to Boucher Road addressed in Irish was returned to him by Royal Mail, saying the addressee was unknown and there was no such address.

At the time, a spokesperson for Royal Mail pointed out that their staff policy on the issue around post with an Irish address.

In a statement in 2018 they said: “Royal Mail fully recognises the cultural importance of the Irish and Ulster Scots languages, we are committed to fulfilling its obligations and responsibilities, as set out in current national and European agreements.

“Royal Mail handles Irish language items on a daily basis and the overwhelming majority of these are delivered without any difficulty. This is true, as long as the house or premises number and postcode appear correctly on mail items. On some occasions mail could be marked as we translate the location of the address. We are reminding all our staff of our policy and we will be taking appropriate steps to prevent this happening again.”

Pádraig has now sent an official complaint to the Post Office on behalf of Gráinne, who most recently had her post translated into English, and has questioned whether their policy – directed from Royal Mail – has changed on their stance over Irish-addressed postage.

“Either they have totally regressed from this policy they stood by back in 2018, or the staff don’t know that it exists – either way it’s totally unacceptable,” he told this newspaper.

“This isn’t first time Irish speakers felt second-class customers with Royal Mail and it’s simply not good enough any more.

“It is concerning for us that in 2024, several years since the Language Identity Act was passed and more than 25 years since the Good Friday Agreement, that an Irish speaker is still being treated like they don’t exist in some cases when they have to comply with English-only customer service,” he added.

“Irish speakers must challenge this idea and continue to challenge companies like Royal Mail on issues like this.”

Royal Mail has been approached for comment.