Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As a resident of a very rural part of County Kerry, I appreciate the difficulties that exist at present pertaining to a number of people having the same name at the same address. Where I grew up in Caherfealane, there were five Michael Griffins, while in the adjacent townlands of Shanahill and Shanakeal, there were about ten John Foleys or Seán Foleys or whatever but everyone could add a nickname. I am unsure whether the witnesses are aware of the cultural implications whereby these unique identifiers actually could kill the Irish nickname forevermore. Anyway, I hope that does not happen because those nicknames say a lot about us. I have a couple of questions. My impression is this really is a fallback position and is a verification. While we will rely primarily on the address, where there is ambiguity this is to prove beyond doubt that the item in question is intended for John Foley in a certain house that has this code. What will happen if someone has the correct address on the letter but the code is wrong? Will the letter be delivered to that person in any event? If the code is different, will it be taken that the reasonable likelihood is that the address is correct? Will there be a way of working this out?

Can someone simply put down the code alone on a letter, put it into the post and expect it to get the intended recipient or must someone have a reasonable amount of information on both sides? Further to this point, what are the implications in respect of unsolicited or junk mail? At present, for example, An Post has direct mail services in which one can take a geographical area and send out flyers, leaflets and whatever else. What will the implications of this system be for such businesses and for those who previously were not affected? At present, the direct mail service will attempt to verify that something being sent out is legitimate and is not fraudulent or associated with any kind of dodgy business or whatever. Will this system have safeguards and how localised will be the availability of the database? Will it be at a national level or, for example, if I had a business from which I sought to distribute everything within the mid-Kerry area, could I seek all the relevant codes and, if so, what information would I get? To be specific, would I get the names and addresses or just the codes? I ask the witnesses to clarify this point. As for people who are deceased or have gone away, if the name and the code for the particular property are on the envelope, will the letter simply go through the letter box? At present, it will come back to the sender with a message to the effect the recipient is deceased or gone away. What will happen in those circumstances? Will it be delivered and will An Post's responsibility for that item of mail be finished at that point? The point has been made that this system is voluntary and is not compulsory at present. Is there a future cut-off date beyond which it will be compulsory? For example, will it be announced that from 1 January 2022, it will be necessary to use the code as otherwise, the item will not be accepted or will not be delivered? Have the witnesses thought about this or will this definitely not happen?