Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

I said that the procurement process will start within weeks. That will lead to the delivery of a postcode service that meets the objective of having a postcode that is easy to remember and that has a unique identifier that can be used within the proper data protection regime and which the Data Protection Commissioner has every right to insist on. In our meetings with the commission, we have outlined how exactly that can and will work.

We are ready to go with this. We consulted with about 60 different bodies and every single one of them stated that we are doing the right thing. We are finding huge savings in the public service and in the private sector, and in An Post. The further we go to getting this thing up and running, the more sense it is for us to do it and we have the right approach. It will be open in a tendering process to any company and any individual to explain how they can manage the system. We will get the least cost and the best solution, which is why there is an open procurement system. It will be done on a basis that delivers a postcode and a location code, because we need both.

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