Stamp of approval for Irish postal revolution
EVERY address in Ireland will soon have its own unique postcode under a radical new mail system.
Minister for Communications Noel Dempsey is examining two reports from ComReg which analyse the feasibility and cost benefit of introducing postcodes in Ireland.
The Minister described the results as positive and made no secret of his desire to introduce postcodes to Ireland as soon as possible.
He believes it will speed up deliveries and is vital as the number of new homes in the country continues to grow. Mr Dempsey said: “Every country in the civilised world has postcodes.
“This is just not about getting mail delivered much quicker. Postcodes can be used for a whole range of things.
“A group like Breast Check said it would be enormously beneficial to them. It would enable them to do their business much more efficiently.
“The emergency services would agree that it’s good to have. They will be able to pinpoint people much more quickly in emergency call-outs.”
Dublin is currently the only region of Ireland that has a postcode system.
Mr Dempsey has not revealed how the new system will work but said it would not follow the system in Britain or the numeric zip codes used in the US.
It is believed it will instead have both letters and numbers and will be localised and easily identifiable – being a variation of the vehicle registrations that identify counties by initials.
The Labour Party’s spokesman on communications Tommy Broughan has expressed concern that a postal code system may be socially divisive in the way that some postcodes in the capital city – for example Dublin 4 – have become.
Mr Dempsey agreed the current Dublin system was divisive but added a crossparty and cross-interest postcode committee had arrived at a system that was inclusive and socially neutral.
Mr Dempsey also said he was concerned that the volume of mail was falling by about 3 per cent each year at a time when the economy was booming and so many items bought on the internet were delivered by post.
He said: “There should not be falling mail volumes.
“Anything that increases the efficiency of delivery will help that.”
