Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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Question 16: To ask the Minister for Communications; Energy and Natural Resources if the position of the Data Commissioner regarding the introduction of a unique identifier postcode system has changed; if he will provide an update on the postcode project; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44976/10]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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Ireland is the only country in the EU and OECD which does not have a national postcode system. In the context of the national postcode project, I and my Department have had meetings with the Data Protection Commissioner and his officials as part of our approach to the introduction of postcodes. These communications have addressed the implementation, dissemination and commercialisation of postcodes in order to ensure that all pertinent data protection legislation is adhered to. Details of these measures will be made available as part of the procurement process.

An invitation to tender was issued on 10 May 2010 for consultants to assist in selecting a body to implement and manage the delivery of a working national postcode system. These consultants have now been appointed and are working with my Department's steering group to introduce a six digit alpha numeric model that is also capable of being refined into a location based code. A process of consultation with interested parties has recently concluded. A prior information notice was published this month relating to the process and my objective is to move to the procurement phase within the coming weeks.

Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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The Minister is great at making promises and then not delivering on them. He promised that we would have postcodes in early 2011, but there is not a chance in hell of that happening now. How do these promises come about? I plead with him to ensure that we have the most efficient postcode system possible.

We cannot afford to do anything less and he needs to ensure that we have a unique identifier system. Nothing in the reports stated that the Data Protection Commissioner was saying that we cannot have a unique identifier. He said that there needs to be a debate. The Minister has had discussions and surely common sense will tell him that he should move to a unique identifier now and save a lot of money. This is better than going the route he is talking about, which is a cluster alpha numeric system that will be costly and will need revision all the time. The Minister talks a lot about market opportunities. The market opportunities of the unique identifier system are incomparably better than what he is proposing.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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We must have a unique identifier and we will have it.

Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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Why not have it now?

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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We will have it now because that is exactly what we are doing. We are about to procure that service.

Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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The Minister is not doing that.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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Yes I am. That is exactly what I said.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Minister said he would do it in the future.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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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.

Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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We do not need both. The Minister sounds silly when he tries to sell this message. We started out with a cluster system.

I did not agree with it but it was consistent. However, it was challenged by the technology advance and Google Street View now allows one to pinpoint a house on a street at any time one wishes. However, one cannot have a postcode that pinpoints the same house and this does not make sense.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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A question, Deputy.

Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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I again plead with the Minister not to have this amalgam that no one has sought. No matter what the Minister might say, people sought a cluster system or for a unique identifier but no one sought a system that has both. This is what the Minister proposes but it will not serve the people well at a time when we need to work smarter.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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Since I started this process three and a half years ago, I have stated at each step of the way that there should be a location code as well as a postcode. I stated that the Government accepted the work that had been done by the previous Administration in deciding that a postcode with an alphanumeric basis was the correct choice to make. While I agreed with this, I decided that we needed to go further by including a location code. I recognised this from the very outset and have insisted on it at each step of the way. The Deputy is correct that as the technology has improved, it has shown that the benefit of having a unique house identifier is becoming real. It must be done correctly, subject to proper data protection issues, to avoid invading people's privacy. This can be done and is being stitched into the procurement system-----

Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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It will be a secret postcode. We will have postcodes but they will be a secret.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Please. I wish to allow in Deputy Varadkar for a question.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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No, it will not be a secret. One will need to know one's own postcode in order that when one is on the Internet or contacting other bodies, one may enter one's identifier. People must be able to have ease-of-use of such an identifier. Remember-----

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Go raibh maith agat. If the Minister will allow, a final question from Deputy Varadkar.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I agree strongly with Deputy McManus that unique identifier postcodes should be adopted and that the location code should be one's postcode. I believe this is the point we both are making. It is not just because of market opportunities, because other issues also arise, such as emergency access in particular. As someone who has done a small amount of medical work driving around the back lanes of County Kildare, the advantage of being able to pinpoint a particular house or farmstead with a postcode is huge.

Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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Hear, hear.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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This could be a matter of life and death and not simply a matter of what type of post one receives. However, again I am completely baffled by the Minister's answer. I understood him to state that we would have an alphanumeric-based postcode system that could be modified at a later stage to become a location code. He then stated that next year, which is only a few weeks away, we are going to have both. I really do not understand. Are we going to have a location code as a postcode or not? Alternatively, the Minister might clarify whether we are going to have a postcode that could be converted into a location code at some stage in the future but about which a decision has not yet been made. He might also clarify that if we are to have an alphanumeric system, although I would rather opt for a numeric system, will the alphabetic part of the alphanumeric code reflect the name of the area in Irish or English language?

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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Yes it will and that is one of the benefits of a postcode in order that people can remember and identify with their postcode, rather than simply a series of random numbers with which it would be more difficult to identify personally. Moreover, the identification code also allows one to adopt such a six-digit alphanumeric code into a location code as a separate field immediately, not far off into the distance but as part of the system. The Government intends to leave it open to a tendering process which will ask people to set out how they would suggest doing it and how it would work. Let all-comers come and outline how they would do it. However, we now are well placed in this regard. We have our data systems ready to go, An Post has been highly supportive and people are rowing in behind the concept in the public consultation process. It is ready to go, to be purchased and to save Ireland millions. I am keen to get on with it and this will be done.

Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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I must stand in defence of the people-----

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Does the Deputy have a question?

Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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-----who are not so stupid that they cannot remember a number code. Perhaps the Minister is unaware that everyone has a PPS number.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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And a telephone number.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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If the Minister wishes, briefly.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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Absolutely. They also would have a postcode number that would help them carry out a range of different services and would help the public and other services relate to them and achieve real efficiencies. It will be a major project, whereby our social welfare, health and education systems will begin to use these data fields to deliver services far more effectively.

Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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The health service seeks a unique identifier.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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This is what we will be able to do with the unique identifier, which will be provided for in the new system the Government is putting in place.