Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

There was a reduction this year in the provision for Eircode and the money required to deal with exactly the point the Deputy identified, namely, to ensure that public sector database are fit for purpose for this project, because that has already been done. Provision was made for that work in previous years, including last year in particular, and the work has been substantially completed across the public sector. The Deputy is correct that it needs to be done in order for the Eircode system to work.

The contract for the development and roll-out of the national postcode system was signed in December 2013 after a full public procurement process. The actual design was approved by the Government in April 2014. A short piece of legislation will be prepared in the coming weeks to deal with data protection issues. We can realistically hold to the goal in the timetable of delivering this by the summer.