Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

630. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the efforts his Department and agencies under its remit have made to use Eircode when communicating with households via An Post; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25870/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The majority of correspondence conducted by my Department is through electronic media and there is limited direct communication with households via An Post. My Department is not generally responsible for the provision of services to the public directly; our agencies and the local authorities administer services and schemes of this nature on our behalf. In the area of Franchise, for example, the compilation and maintenance of the register of electors is the responsibility of local authorities as registration authorities and they are assisted in this process by the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) via the I-Reg system. I understand that the LGMA was fully involved in integrating Eircodes into the I-Reg system for the 2016/2017 register of electors which came into force on 15 February 2016. The register has been populated with Eircodes so that polling cards issued to electors include the Eircode. In addition, my Department has updated the range of electoral register application forms, many of which are prescribed or directed under the Electoral Acts, to provide for applicants to include their Eircode.

The LGMA also maintains the online system whereby people can check that they are correctly registered. I understand from the LGMA, that the ability to check voter registration details on www.checktheregister.ie. via the designated Eircode is progressing and, at this time, has been included as part of the search facility in 28 of the 31 local authority sites.

My Department continues to work towards making greater use of the Eircode system. For example, the integration and use of Eircode datasets will be incorporated into the functionality of the next generation of the Fire Services Command and Control System, currently in development.

Finally, with regard to the agencies under the aegis of my Department, all were informed of the national postcode system and those agencies use Eircodes when corresponding with households via An Post. In some instances, agencies have encoded their address databases with Eircodes or are actively looking at mechanisms for systematically applying Eircodes to all customer records on databases.