Parcel group boss backs new postcode plan

The chief executive of Ireland’s largest independent parcel delivery company has declared his support for the controversial new postcode system due to be introduced next year.

John Touhy, CEO of the Nightline group, yesterday told the joint Oireachtas committee on transport and communications that the

€27m Eircode system would “revolutionise how we deal with customers in rural areas”.

He said that the design of the postcode would allow easy implementation and negate the need to change any addresses or road names.

The committee previously received a submission from the Freight Transport Association of Ireland in which delivery companies Boc, DHL, FedEx, Palletxpress, and UPS all declared that they would not use the new code in its current guise.

However, Mr Tuohy said that while these companies were “shouting very loudly”,

their views were in the minority, and that their concerns were down to their

computer systems’ compatibility with the new code.

“The issue there is that we have a computer system that is 30 years old, it supports the UK and US-style post codes.

“It doesn’t support this new and innovative one so we’d have to spend money adopting it for the Irish market.

“The Irish market is probably too small for that, so rather than change the system to the new postcode, we’d rather change the new postcode to an older system that our system would support and that’s really the issue there with multinationals,” he said.

Meanwhile the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources has confirmed that it has received a request for the establishment of an independent review of Eircodes from the FTAI.

The group has expressed concerns surrounding Eircode and the awarding of the tender for overseeing an evaluation of the postcode to the company that also advised the Government on the postcode’s introduction.

It has said that unless Communications Minister Alex White agrees to this review by Friday, the FTAI will refer the matter to the Ombudsman.