Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

I reply on behalf of the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Deputy Noel Dempsey. A postcode is a necessary piece of infrastructure for a modern developed economy. Almost 90% of mail in Ireland is now generated by business. A recent report to the European Commission on developments in the European postal sector identified that Ireland has relatively low mail volumes.

The report suggested that a possible explanation for this could be that Ireland is the only member state without a postcode system. The report further suggested that there is an unrealised potential for letter post growth in Ireland. Public services and utilities and private businesses, such as the ESB, Eircom and the banks are major users of the post and need a precise address for billing, sales, marketing and to assist field staff locating customers' premises. Without an effective postcode in Ireland, there is a real danger that not only postal operators but also consumers, business and public services will be at a disadvantage compared to our EU partners. The Government is committed to redressing this situation.

To this end, the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources established a working group comprising people with experience of the postal sector, together with a representative from the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, which is the lead Department for the Irish spatial data infrastructure initiative to examine the introduction of a postcode system in Ireland. This group produced its report earlier this month. The report found that the introduction of a publicly available postcode could deliver many potential benefits. The purpose of a postcode system would be to improve efficiencies and quality in the postal sector, stimulate mail volume growth, assist utilities and emergency services, address the problem of non-unique addressing and facilitate competition by making it easier for new postal operators to enter the market. These improvements collectively will boost the country's competitiveness. For this reason, the Minister has decided, in principle, that a postcode system should be in place by 2008.

The Minister is asking the Commission for Communications Regulation, ComReg, to appoint project managers to support the postcode project. The next step is to establish a national postcode project board, comprising representatives of Departments, together with public and private sector organisations which will be appointed by the Minister to assist the project managers with their work. It is hoped to present a proposal describing in sufficient detail what is the most efficient, effective and publicly usable postcode system by 31 December 2005.

In its deliberations, the project board will examine all the options for a postcode system. This may include an examination of An Post's GeoDirectory. An Post has advised, however, that the geo-directory product is not a postcode system. It is a commercial, proprietary address database which is linked to geographical co-ordinates to provide a unique identifier for buildings which has been developed by An Post and Ordnance Survey Ireland. The cost of the GeoDirectory product supplied by An Post comprises a once-off fee of €57,000 plus an annual licensing fee of 14% of the initial cost. It is a very useful product which is used by local authorities, emergency services and utilities, but it is not a publicly available postcode system. The generally accepted definition of a postcode is that it is an identifier that identifies the addressee's locality and assists in the transmission and sorting of mail. Effectively, a postcode is primarily to facilitate mail delivery.

While a postcode can be used with automated mail process systems, it must also be capable of being used with manual systems. The GeoDirectory product is a building identifier and the purpose of a postcode system is to make it easier to process and deliver mail. A publicly available postcode system would help organisations to direct mail more accurately and provide better customer service. In response to the ComReg consultation on postcodes, organisations such as the ESB and BreastCheck were in favour of postcodes because they help to provide better access to customers. In addition, the Department has received correspondence in support of the initiative.

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