Fermanagh's proud tradition of holding on to their townland names does not always make life easy for the postmen and women trying to deliver letters across the County.

The problem was particularly aggravated recently when a number of agencies, including the Rating Office and the Electoral Officer, initiated large scale mail-drops across Northern Ireland.

Representatives of Royal Mail, Martin Dale, Data Development Manager, and Cahill McElhill, Local Delivery Manager, met recently with Fermanagh Councillors to discuss the problem.

Mr McElhill demonstrated examples of addresses which had caused confusion for Royal Mail and reported that in certain instances they had been unable to deliver mail.

The Councillors acknowledged some confusion had been caused by agencies who had no responsibility for road naming, but who had proceeded to use road names and numbers. Discussions took place and reference was made to options, such as numbering individual properties within a townland, including two extra digits to postcodes, introducing a road name scheme and including a townland on the street plate.

However, after consideration it was decided no action would be taken at this time.

Commenting on the meeting, a spokesperson for Royal Mail said: "Royal Mail fully appreciates that townland names form a vital part of our heritage and has no problem with their inclusion within a postal address.

"However, to ensure quick and correct delivery it is very important to use a full postal address. There are over 700,000 postal addresses across Northern Ireland and, using the correct address helps us to deliver customers' mail more efficiently," he continued.

Explaining the proper way to address a letter, he said: "Royal Mail encourages customers to use the full postal address which consists of a premises number, road or thoroughfare name, post-town and postcode.