The Post Office has been criticised after employees at a Belfast branch failed to accept a parcel being sent to Letterkenny as the address was written entirely in Irish.
The parcel – which included the destination’s Eircode – was being sent by Belfast musician Gráinne Holland.
She was then asked to translate the address into English, which the Post Office worker wrote on the parcel instead.
Ms Holland told RTE that she felt “ shocked and surprised”
"This has never happened me before,” she added.
"I have worked for Irish language companies since I left university. I’ve posted countless, hundreds of letters over the years.
"It has got me thinking that this was something that I took for granted and I know our parents’ generation have faced problems like this before but we never had and I always felt lucky like it’s no big deal.”
A Post Office spokesperson said the advice for any item sent internationally, which includes the Irish Republic, “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 said.
"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.”
But Pádraig Ó Tiarnaigh from Conradh na Gaeilge said 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 spoke out 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, Royal Mail said it handles Irish language items on a daily basis and the overwhelming majority of these are delivered without any difficulty, adding: “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.”
Mr Mac Alastair has now sent an official complaint to the Post Office on behalf of Ms Holland after the latest incident.
He 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 said.
“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.”
“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.