Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 24 October 2013
5. Deputy Michael Colreavy asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the measures he will take to ensure the introduction of the recently announced national postcode system does not compromise personal data. [44984/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraIreland is the only country in the EU and OECD that does not have a national postcode system, and this Government is strongly committed to introducing such a system. Such a system will be a vital part of the national infrastructure.
On 8 October 2013, I obtained Government approval for the launch of a new national postcode system that will provide a unique seven character code to every letterbox in the State in 2015. The Government has also approved, subject to contract, the appointment of a consortium headed by Capita Ireland as the company which will develop, roll out and operate the postcode system. This announcement follows a procurement process run by my Department.
Most countries have had the benefit of postcodes since the mid-1900s. In making the move now, Ireland has been able to use the technology and systems available today to move to the next generation system. The Irish code will be the first in the world to be unique to each individual address. This will alleviate the current situation whereby more than 30% of all domestic addresses are not unique. It will mean that even apartments and offices in large developments will have an individual code as long as they use their own specific postboxes.
To address any concerns regarding the introduction of a granular postcode system, my Department has engaged with the Data Protection Commissioner’s office on the national postcode system during the procurement process. The commissioner's office has been advised of, and has noted, the rationale and policy justification for the approach suggested for postcode roll-out and implementation.
It should be noted that the provisions of data protection legislation will continue to apply to all holders of personal data linked to postcodes and that unauthorised access to or use of that information will be in breach of the law. In addition, the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner is statutorily charged with independently investigating any complaints raised regarding any national postcode system.
I thank the Minister. I support the introduction of postcodes in this country and I want to see it work well. There are three areas of concern. Irish language people are concerned that the increasing use of English placenames and abbreviations may become part of the postcodes. The Minister might advise me as to how we can guard against that.
A second concern is that because someone can now go to the person's individual letterbox, there may be personal security or personal data implications. I am aware that in Scotland there was a legal case regarding postcodes and the outcome was that because it only referred to a district but did not identify the individual house, it could not be regarded as data. The unspoken implication was that had the additional three digits that identified an individual house been in place, there was a potential breach of data protection.
Would it be possible to get a breakdown of the costs because it appears to be a very expensive project?
I welcome Deputy Colreavy's support for the implementation of a postcode. The fact we did not do so in previous decades means we now have the benefit of technology which was not there previously. This unique identifier will be at the leading edge in that regard. The precious local address will not be interfered with. There will be a new line at the bottom of the envelope, so whatever the precious name of the village or the townland will still be there.
I do not brush aside at all Deputy Colreavy's concerns about privacy and data protection. That is a very important area to Irish people and we have spent a lot of time focused on that issue. I think the Data Protection Commissioner first became involved in this in 2005. All during the procurement process, my Department has been engaged with him and his office in terms of how implementation of the system proposed does not encroach on personal privacy. He has, in turn, let it be known to us that he will be extremely vigilant about discharging his independent function under the law. He has left us in no doubt about that.
I will do a little further research on that but I understand the practice throughout the EU is that, although the technology is there, the identification potential is not reduced to fewer than a cluster of four or six houses.
The reason I asked for the financial information was that PA Consulting did a report, although I do not have the date for it. However, based on 2007 figures, it lists the implementation costs and the net value over 15 years. Private postal services, banking, retail, telecommunications and insurance are listed. It appears that an agency like An Post will carry a lot of the financial load here. While other areas will see an increase in the value over 15 years, An Post will see a big loss by virtue of the heavy implementation costs. I do not have information from the Minister's Department, so perhaps we could have that information on the establishment cost, the implementation cost, the maintenance cost and the life-cycle cost.
The cost of the contract over ten years is €25 million. The two big elements of that are the cost of accessing the GeoDirectory data and the cost of upgrading departmental databases, so that they can exploit the new post code system. Some €8.27 million will be paid to the GeoDirectory. That is money which comes back to the State as the GeoDirectory is a State organisation where the shareholders are the Ordnance Survey of Ireland and An Post. It is one arm of the State giving to another one.
The bigger element of the cost will be the €9.46 million which is the cost of updating the databases in the main Government Departments which have been agitating for this service, such as the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the Department of Social Protection, the CSO and any organisation which can use it to improve its service, make it more efficient and provide a better service to its clients.
Deputy Colreavy looked for information on the impact of the implementation of a national postcode on An Post. The impact will be a positive one. There will be more business going through An Post as a result. The estimate we have is that it is likely to improve the bottom line of An Post by approximately 2%. That is welcome in the context of the discussion Deputy Moynihan and I just had about the future of the post office.
