The surprised radio show host reported receiving 30 calls in 10 minutes from irate listeners in the area referred to, all of them anxious to make the point . . . emphatically . . .

that their property was in a distinctly separate postal region.

This almost pedantic obsession with ensuring that their address was accurately reported was prompted, some callers openly admitted, by fears that any close association in the public mind with an adjacent, less salubrious, location might adversely affect the value of their homes.

By no means is it a new phenomenon, this post code apartheid. Any estate agent will attest to the sagacity of the 'location, location, location' mantra. And southsiders cocking a snook at their north city cousins is a longestablished tradition in our capital city.

Lately though, this particular type of identity crisis seems to have taken on a new urgency; there seems to be a discernible new emphasis on the particular geographical hierarchy that divides Dublin.

The anxiety on the part of new homeowners to avoid, if possible, any association with areas renowned for widescale acts of social misconduct is, of course, totally understandable. But so, too, is the anger and frustration of decent people in disadvantaged areas who have to contend with this subtle form of social ostracism.

One prominent estate agent found himself in hot water recently after placing a full-page ad in a national newspaper extolling the architectural delights of a newly constructed apartment complex.

The advert included a large map depictingvarious well-known landmarks in the area . . . an adjacent motorway, a public park . . . to help pinpoint the exact location of the new development.

Affronted locals phoned the Liveline radio show, hosted by Joe Duffy, to point out how that task would have been more easily achieved had the agent opted to include the name of the well-known working class area in which the apartments are located.

Our own complex, it could be said, is situated in something of a no man's land. Certainly some apartment owners seem confused . . .

perhaps intentionally so . . . about where exactly they're living.

I've noticed Apartment To Let ads in the paper that identify the complex by name, but omit to mention the postcode. Other ads include the postcode but omit the name of the area. I've even seen openly misleading advertisements suggesting that the apartment complex is located in the adjoining postal district.

And this all started before the complex was even built. The developer had published an impressively produced colour brochure in order to generate offplan sales. But only someone suf"ciently diligent to check the small print disclaimer on the bottom corner of the back page would have anticipated the degree of "ctional data the brochure contained.

For a start there was nothing in it to indicate where exactly the complex was located. The national roadway bordering the development was left unidenti"ed, presumably because to name it would pinpoint the location. A north-facing arrow beside the road and ambiguously marked 'Village' was equally uninformative. And for the south facing arrow declaring 'city centre, three miles' to pass for accurate, the caveat 'as the crow "ies' would have to have been appended.

Because the map is not drawn to scale, landmarks like Dublin Airport, Dublin City University and the Botanic Gardens seem, at a glance, to be a mere stone's throw away from the apartments. In reality, they're miles away.

"Postal codes are an increasingly delicate topic in some locations", an estate agent admitted. "There could be a price difference of 200,000 between two identical properties with . . . literally . . . just a few paces between them."