Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 February 2017
588. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the number of Departments, State bodies and-or agencies using the Eircode system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8609/17]
View answer589. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the cost of upgrading information technology systems and-or databases to incorporate the use of Eircode; if the use of Eircode is mandatory in his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8628/17]
View answer590. Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his plans to encourage an increase in usage of the Eircode system; and if any consideration has been given to amending the current system for this purpose. [8647/17]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 588 to 590, inclusive, together.
Capita Business Support Services Ireland, trading as Eircode, was awarded a 10 year contract in December 2013 to develop, implement, maintain and promote the use of the National Postcode System "Eircode".
The contract provided for a programme of public sector database encoding with Eircodes for 15 public sector bodies who have frequent interaction with the public. Prior to the Eircode launch approximately 80 million public sector database records were encoded with Eircodes, costing €11.5m (VAT inclusive).
Public sector bodies have used their regular on-going ICT software upgrades to incorporate Eircodes as part of other changes to their systems. Therefore, public sector bodies with a large number of complex ICT systems have implemented Eircodes on an incremental basis as systems come up for change or renewal. This has resulted in no significant cost to those bodies.
Staff in my Department when communicating with households include Eircode on outgoing mail, on department publications, application forms, headed paper, e-mail signatures, complementary slips and on the website. In all correspondence with the Department, staff request and use Eircodes. My Department continues to identify opportunities to realise the benefits integrating Eircodes will bring within the various areas of the Department and agencies under our aegis.
Eircodes are being used by the large public sector bodies, including, Revenue, Department of Social Protection, Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine, and the Health Service Executive. Many other state bodies and agencies that have interaction with the public have also incorporated the Eircode into their systems. These include the Department Transport, Tourism & Sport; Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade; Local Government Management Agency; Central Statistics Office; Department of Education & Skills; Residential Tenancies Board; Companies Registration Office; Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland; Ordnance Survey Ireland; An Post; National Treasury Management Agency; Electric Ireland and ESB Networks.
Some examples of how the Eircode has been successfully implemented in public sector bodies are described below:
- National Ambulance Service (NAS) have integrated Eircodes into their Computer Aided Dispatch system (CAD). This means that the patient’s address and the position of the nearest available ambulance can be accurately pinpointed on a digital map, enabling an ambulance to be quickly and accurately routed to someone in need of medical help. This is of particular benefit to rural Ireland with 35% non-unique addresses which caused significant operational challenges in the past;
- Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) has integrated Eircodes into its educational grants award system which assists students apply for the correct rate of grant;
- Central Statistics Office (CSO) utilises Eircode as part of their core data and launched the new Residential Property Price Index covering all market purchases of houses and apartments, including in rural Ireland. Eircodes provide the necessary addition of better quality location information, allowing the register measure prices with greater accuracy by using the Eircode Routing Key;
- National Broadband Plan. Currently Eircodes are in use on the Department’s High Speed Broadband Map 2020. Users simply enter the Eircode of the residential or commercial premises and the map indicates whether the premises falls within the Blue area that is being served by commercial operators or within the Amber area which will be covered by the State intervention;
- National Transport Authority (NTA) has incorporated Eircodes within the National Journey Planner app for use by the public. The app provides journey planning, timetable and travel information from all licensed public transport providers across Ireland;
- Waterford City and County Council have incorporated the Eircode into customer management systems, used by members of the public to report incidents to the Council; and
- The HSE have incorporated Eircodes into the Individual Health Identifier (IHI) system. The IHI system is a key enabler for the Governments eHealth strategy.
Increasing numbers of the public are looking-up Eircodes on the free to use Eircode Finder website, which remains very popular, with just under 10m searches since the finder went live at launch. In addition, Capita provide regular updates to Google who have now integrated Eircodes within Google Maps.
Capita have run a number of national advertising campaigns on television, radio and online to raise public awareness of using Eircodes for deliveries and during emergency situations. Capita will continue to promote and market the use of Eircodes in the coming year to increase uptake and usage of the Eircode system among members of the public and businesses.
