Mr. Andy Smith:

From the small parcel side of the industry, flexibility is one of the key parts of our business. Our volumes on a daily basis can fluctuate significantly. We are talking fluctuations, depending on the time of year, of between 15,000 and 25,000 parcels a day. It is very important to have the flexibility to increase or reduce the number of vehicles we put on the road each day from a cost-efficiency point of view. It also has an impact on the environment.

That also has an impact on the environment in terms of putting excess vehicles on roads. A sequence postcode enables us to have a logical system to flex the volume between vehicles. In effect, we cannot use the proposed Eircode system. As a business, we would ignore the Eircode system and continue to operate as we do. It is a real missed opportunity for us.