Mr. Liam Duggan:

Dublin postal district information is in common usage. According to the way in which we structure the code, or the way in which we do not put a structure on the unique identifier element, we are not further subdividing it in a way that is obvious in the code. Nobody could say, for example, that Dublin 4A is better than Dublin 4Z. We are avoiding the postcode discrimination or ghettos to which Mr. Molloy referred. That is an important point.

I addressed the pilot scheme issue. Quality assurance testing is carried out at every stage, but a meaningful pilot scheme requires us to test what happens in real life. If we had merely picked a county or an area to assign codes and the service providers in these areas did not know the codes, the pilot scheme would have been of little or no benefit. We are absolutely sure every element of the project has been tested and subjected to quality assurance.

On the cost for hauliers, many small hauliers around the country use Sat Nav or GPS to find locations. The difficulty with current Sat Nav technology arises from non-unique addresses. The haulier may receive a GPS location for Gormanlough that does not identify the exact house. We are discussing this issue with the various Sat Nav and digital mapping companies which will incorporate the Eircode system into their systems, perhaps not on its launch but certainly in time. All a haulier will need to do is put the Eircode information into the satnav device to obtain the exact location of the delivery address. It will not just bring him or her to Gormanlough, it will identify the exact house. There will be no cost for the haulier because he or she will be using an existing system.