Deadline for postcode system will not be met

THE Government has abandoned its January 1 deadline for the introduction of a nationwide postcode address system.

No firm date now exists for the implementation of the project after the Cabinet returned it to the Department of Communications seeking further evidence of the benefits that it is claimed it will bring.

A department spokesperson said there was no row-back on the postcodes plan. “Their introduction remains a priority for the Government but given the need for further analysis and a public consultation, the system is unlikely to be introduced by January 1st 2008,” he said.

The as yet undisclosed costs of implementing the scheme are believed to have caused concern at Cabinet level. Apart from the expense to the public purse, An Post has complained that it would cost the company at least €6 million to adapt existing technology so that postcodes could be automatically read.

Substantial costs would arise for Government departments and agencies as all computer records containing details on the country’s 4.1 million citizens and residents would have to be updated, headed paper and official forms would need replacing and a huge public information campaign would be required.

A massive geographical survey would also have to be undertaken to determine the co-ordinates of currently unnamed rural roads and boreens and townlands with unclear boundaries would have to be strictly defined.

The Communications Workers Union has also warned of the huge logistical task involved in switching to a postcode system and questioned whether there would be adequate returns to justify the investment.

ComReg, the communications regulator, was asked in May 2005 by the then communications minister, now Transport Minister Noel Dempsey, to devise a postcodes system but when Mr Dempsey presented that system to Cabinet in May this year, approval was not forthcoming.

“The decision was that the minister would revert to Government following further analysis to quantify the benefits, which would then be followed by a public consultation process,” the department spokesman said.

This analysis would include examining the non-postal benefits of a postcode system, including how it might improve response times for emergency services who have highlighted the difficulties they have when trying to locate victims in remote areas or where similar addresses cause confusion.

Strong backing for postcodes also comes from private post, parcel couriers, the direct marketing industry, which is responsible for unsolicited or junk mail, and operators of big utilities such as the ESB and Eircom.

The most immediate impact however, would be felt by An Post, and spokesperson, Anna McHugh, said the company believed postcodes were not necessary for its work. “We are not against postcodes, but we don’t require them to process the mail,” she said.

She said however, that An Post had played a full part in the postcodes steering group set up by Mr Dempsey.