Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)
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Question 227: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the action he is taking to develop the postal service and the market; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23195/05]

Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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The market for traditional postal and post office services is changing and meeting customer needs has become more important than ever. Competition can be expected to increase into the future, from the privately owned express sector, from the large European public operators now looking for international business and from electronic communications technologies such as e-mail and text messaging. The trend of dropping mail volumes internationally is also impacting on the Irish postal sector. This does not bode well for the future of a volume based business.

Already the parcels business in Ireland is liberalised, with major international players operating in the Irish market. Furthermore, the European Commission's stated intention is to complete the internal market for postal services in 2009 which, if achieved, would open up the letter post area to full competition. The Commission is undertaking a number of studies on the impact of competition on the universal service requirement, which is enshrined in EU and Irish law. The results of these studies will contribute to determining the direction of the postal market into the future.

With this in mind, An Post will continue to have a key national role, both in delivery of mail and as a quality service provider through its nationwide network of post office outlets. To remain competitive, An Post needs to make the best possible use of its long established and trusted brand name and deploy its resources in a manner which continues to serve existing customers' needs and attracts additional customers for a range of new services.

Agreement has been reached that change is required if the postal services of An Post are to adapt to the modern business environment and to continue to offer a top class nationwide delivery service to the customer into the future. In addition, I established a working group in January 2005 to examine the introduction of a postcode system in Ireland. This working group reported earlier this year and found that the introduction of a publicly available postcode could deliver many potential benefits, including the delivery of improvements in efficiencies and quality in the postal sector. It could also stimulate mail volume growth, assist utilities and emergency services, address the problem of non-unique addressing and facilitate competition by making it easier for new postal operators to enter the market. These improvements collectively will boost the country's competitiveness.

Following from the recommendations of the working group report, consideration of the feasibility, design and implementation of a practicable postcode project proposal will be advanced, including establishing the cost of implementing such a postcode and how that cost should be met. In accordance with the recommendation of the working group, that project managers be appointed to lead the postcode project, I have asked the Commission for Communications Regulation to appoint the project managers. I will appoint a national postcode project board, comprising representatives of Departments together with public and private sector organisations, to assist the project managers with their work and to present a proposal describing in sufficient detail a model that is the most efficient, effective and most publicly usable postcode system by 31 December 2005. I expect the new postcode system to be implemented by 1 January 2008.