Public sector is as unenthusiastic as Joe Public about costly postal codes

If a proxy for the public sector’s engagement, efficacy and the adaptability was to be measured by their promptness in using Eircode smart postal codes in the ‘contact us’ section of their websites, the impression conveyed would be that citizen relations and customer-focused culture are low priority.

Six weeks after the launch of the Eircode project, which represents a taxpayer investment of €27 million, only 13 of the nation’s 31 local authorities have included an Eircode on their site – although two county councils who provide an Eircode, Wexford and Offaly, also provide GPS details of their location.

At least one major state body has also ignored Eircode, notwithstanding a declared mandate and action plan to revive the vitality and prosperity of rural Ireland. Neither the military, the Department of Defence or even the Commander-and-Chief of the Defence Forces have included an Eircode in their web sites.

If there is no evident leadership by public bodies in embracing such an expensive taxpayer-funded consumer technology, could this be interpreted as a symptom of a much deeper malaise - a flawed customer culture caused by unfocused, ineffective leadership and systemic indifference or just the genesis of yet another costly ‘red herring’, like public sector decentralisation or electronic voting?

Myles Duffy

Glenageary

Co Dublin