David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. I agree with the previous speaker that it is a flawed project which needs to be re-examined. I will not oppose the Bill on Second Stage because it is important to move on to Committee Stage where we can discuss these issues in more detail. Second Stage is an opportunity for us to present the general concerns about the Bill.

The first and obvious question is why this system is being introduced and how much will it cost. The Department is projecting that the cost to the State will be in the region of €27 million. Some argue it could be more. Normally a project with technical specifications is an attempt to fix a clear problem that has been identified. There has been much murmuring from the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources about the lack of a postcode system in Ireland but there has yet to be a definitive answer as to what problem Eircode is addressing. We are told that Ireland is the only OECD country without a postcode system but is addressing this issue a vanity project for the Government or does it fulfil a specific function? It is for the Minister to convince us. It is a very expensive vanity project if it is to tackle a problem that one official from the Department identified. He stated that the public was tired of making up postcodes every time they were doing business on websites and explaining to people how it was that Ireland was the only country in the OECD that did not have a postcode system.There is a postcode system in place in Ireland which is called Loc8. The system is used by the Sat Nav company, Garmin, and by the HSE. The system was offered free of charge to the Government in 2013 but it was not availed of. I ask the Minister to explain why that was the case.

The expected cost for consultation is projected to be in the region of €1.8 million, according to the Department. Questions remain to be answered as to the level at which individuals, or companies, who advised the Department at various stages are now involved in ongoing project management. The question of the cost to several Departments of the implementation of Eircode remains unanswered. The Departments of Health and Social Protection, for example, will require a large upgrade of their IT systems if they wish to assign an Eircode to every file on their databases. Before Eircode comes into force it must be made clear what impact it will have on each and every existing Department. I do not know if the Minister has that information. If he has then I ask him to share it with us.

The roll-out of the system will clearly involve a large technical specification if it is to be adopted by Government agencies in assisting them with their work. Recently Sinn Féin asked the Minister for Social Protection for the projected cost of implementing the Eircode system in her Department. Even though her response was as follows: "The initial phase will be completed in 2015," we still do not know the cost. She continued, "To this end, the project governance committee of the Department has approved the issue of a supplementary request for tender to a framework of approved bidders in order to implement the technical changes required to the IT systems of the Department." Has that happened in other Departments? She continued, "The associated costs of this initial phase will be known on completion of this technical work." I assume the cost involved will be significant as a significant number of people are in receipt of payments, ranging from children's allowance to pensions, from the Department of Social Protection. If each person on the system must be now allocated with a unique Eircode attached to his or her address then it will require a significant upgrading of the Department's IT system.

A number of bodies have raised serious issues about the Eircode system. The Freight Transport Association of Ireland has expressed concern about the system and pointed out that it is only a postal solution. For example, if a building does not have a letterbox, such as a warehouse or an agricultural unit, then the Eircode system would be of no use to freight carriers. Earlier a Senator said that some courier companies will not use the system.

The Irish Fire and Emergency Services Association represents front-line emergency staff and it has expressed serious concern about Eircode. It has claimed that because the system does not identify small local areas it will be of little or no benefit to emergency call-outs that are along roads or in industrial or transport infrastructure. It is also not helped by the fact that Eircode will not be on street signs and most likely, therefore, will be known only to the person living at the specific address.

I have given a flavour of some of the concerns that people have expressed. The Minister will have addressed some of those concerns in his opening contribution but some of the more specific ones need to be answered. We will have a more wholesome and specific debate on Committee Stage which may take place next week.