Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)

The recent announcement by the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Deputy Noel Dempsey, that a new system of postcodes will be introduced in Ireland by 1 January 2008 provides no seriously persuasive argument as to why new postcodes are necessary. I am not convinced this scheme does not have the potential to turn into another €50 million squandering of public money which could be used in any number of under funded areas highlighted recently, such as nursing homes or seatbelts on school buses.

The Minister claims that a postcode is "a vital piece of infrastructure for any modern economy". This infrastructure exists already in the use of automated sorting, including optical character recognition, and the GeoDirectory system, which is a highly developed national address database system. An Post and the Ordnance Survey of Ireland established the GeoDirectory and they have invested significant resources in the technology. This system is excellent and, as the postcode working group reports, "provides a unique identifier for each building in the State, including penetration to individual delivery points in a building". The argument that a postcode system is essential for the quality and accuracy of postal delivery is nonsense and is discounted by the postcode working group's report.

The An Post and Ordnance Survey GeoDirectory system is on the market already and is available for prospective postal operators to buy. Surely the fact that An Post has already spent significant resources on this technology and that it is commercially available must be recognised and taken into account by the Minister when deciding on the introduction of a postcode system. If a postcode system is introduced, will it be based on the existing and effective An Post technology? If not, how can the Minister justify the costs and operational difficulties this will generate for An Post and the Exchequer?

The initial estimate for the proposed methodology and business plan is estimated at between €200,000 and €300,000. However, An Post estimates that it will cost it in excess of €6 million in private operational costs if postcodes are introduced. This is apart from the financial burden that will be placed on individual businesses and institutions across the country who will have to realign their databases and software to the new postcodes. The electoral register will also have to be revamped at considerable expense to local authorities.

With this Government's and especially Deputy Noel Dempsey's record for taking up disastrous projects with huge price tags, such as the e-voting debacle, the prospects of spiralling and unacceptably high costs for this project are not unlikely. I have read the report on postcodes commissioned by the Minister, Deputy Noel Dempsey. Has the Minister read it? If so, can he point out the disadvantages that Ireland suffers at present and detail how consumers, public services and postal operators will benefit from the introduction of some of the systems proposed? Can the Minister convince us that this postcode system is not being introduced so we can be bombarded more effectively with unsolicited and often junk mail? The commercial benefits are not quantifiable and the drawbacks of such increased so-called customer service and mailshot opportunities, from the general public's point of view, must be seriously considered.

There are also serious data protection, privacy and socioeconomic policy concerns about postcodes. These codes, on the basis of experience in Dublin, can also be a code that unfairly categorises whole populations on the perceived economic status of the postcode area. Do we seriously want to replicate this throughout Ireland through the adoption of codes based on so-called atomic small areas? It is also clear from the postcode working group that the Dublin distinctions are unnecessary and could be abolished.

If there is a case to be made for the establishment of universally known postcodes, let us prioritise the use of the existing system and minimise unnecessary spending by providing greater access to or full publication of the national GeoDirectory so every individual and household knows their postcode, as was proposed by the broadcaster Pat Kenny earlier this week. People have little difficulty remembering telephone and bank account numbers so why should a random digit postcode or zip code be any different? There is great potential in the existing system and a great danger that a new postcode scheme will become another disastrous and unnecessarily extravagant project to add to the Minister, Deputy Noel Dempsey's, unfortunate and sad record.

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