John Kelly (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise the issue of postcodes. Formal consideration of the introduction of postcodes began in 2005. In September 2009 the then Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Mr. Eamon Ryan, said postcodes would be introduced in 2011. It is now 2013 but nothing has happened. It is important that we improve the quality of delivery. More important, we need to facilitate the emergency services. By introducing postcodes, an out-of-hours GP service would be able to find a location very easily and simply that it simply could not find at present. Likewise, the ambulance service could find such a location. In Dublin it is regarded as a crime if an ambulance does not arrive at the scene of an accident within eight minutes, but we do not have that luxury in rural areas, where one might be lucky to get an ambulance in 45 minutes. Last week I followed an ambulance on my road out of the town. It stopped on two occasions to ask ladies who happened to be foreign for directions to its destination. It was looking for the soccer pitch, where an incident had happened. The drivers did not have a clue where they were going and this is why postcodes are vital. Will the Leader request the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources to make a statement on the matter?