Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

The Minister and I agree that we must introduce a post code system. However, the point on which the Minister and I disagree and where I believe he and the Government are making a big mistake is that the tendering process being introduced has only invited tenders according to criteria setting out an area based system. He and others have already stated several times that the post code system would only pinpoint areas of the country on the basis of a code down to the nearest 20 to 50 properties. If such a system were introduced to rural Ireland with the ability to narrow down to between 20 and 50 properties such a service would be no better than that which currently exists with the use of local districts or townlands. This is the problem. The tendering process the Minister intends to launch will not facilitate what is known as a one-to-one solution that will bring accuracy in terms of delivery. The Minister may wish to correct me but my understanding is the reason the Minister decided on the model in question was based on one letter written in 2006 by the Data Protection Commissioner, Mr. Billy Hawkes, that outlines his view that there would be data protection issues with a post code system that pinpoints people's premises. I fundamentally disagree with him on that. There is much evidence to the contrary. Will the Minister outline his reason for rejecting the accurate pinpointing of property in a new post code system based on GPS or some other accurate system for the area based coding which he is introducing?

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