Departmental Communications

Dáil Éireann Debate, Friday - 16 September 2016

Friday, 16 September 2016

Ceisteanna (307)

Jim Daly

Ceist:

307. Deputy Jim Daly asked the Minister for Finance the efforts his Department and agencies under its remit have made to use Eircode when communicating with households via An Post; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25871/16]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Finance

I wish to advise the Deputy that since the introduction of Eircode, efforts made by my Department in implementing it include incorporating Eircodes into all departmental/office addresses on our websites, on new stationery and in email signatures. In addition, the relevant Eircodes are included in public consultation exercises, publications, presentations and other corporate communications.

The Department will continue to incorporate Eircode into new systems, forms and processes as they are developed.

A number of bodies under the remit of the Department, such as the Revenue Commissioners, have extensive communication with households; however, by nature of their roles, others have limited or no direct communication with households.

The bodies under the remit of the Department have advised on their implementation of Eircode to date and their responses are outlined in the following table.

Body	Eircode implementation
Office of the Comptroller & Auditor General	The Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General has incorporated its Eircode reference into its address on all its stationery, business cards etc. and also on its website.
Central Bank	Significant new projects in the Central Bank are considering Eircodes in data requirements and including provision for Eircode where appropriate. This includes the Central Credit Register project which is currently underway.  Eircodes will be considered in other systems updates going forward.  It is worth noting that a significant majority of correspondence received or sent by the Bank is electronic and the Bank mainly deals with firms and institutions that have a registered address.
Credit Review Office	The Credit Review Office (CRO) are putting the Eircode on their addresses on their website and headed paper.  All their finance processing and revenue returns are handled by Enterprise Ireland (EI), the CRO will request that EI amend the CRO's address on their systems also.
Credit Union Advisory Committee	The Credit Union Advisory Committee (CUAC) does not communicate with households. The purpose of the CUAC is to advise the Minister for Finance on Credit Union issues and all meetings are held in the Department of Finance.
Credit Union Restructuring Board (ReBo)	The Credit Union Restructuring Board (ReBo) does not communicate with households.
Disabled Drivers Medical Board of Appeal	The Disabled Drivers Medical Board of Appeal (DDMBA) does not currently use Eircode for its correspondence with households via An Post.
Financial Services Ombudsman Bureau	Progress made to date: - All printed material to issue from FSOB with postal address into the future now contains Eircode - Internal case management system releases are reviewed to identify postal address capture, and Eircode fields added - On-line complaints forms prompt inclusion of Eircode Future plans: The FSOB will be completing its review of all IT and communications systems over the course of 2016 to confirm all issued materials containing contact details, as well as all data entry points (internal and service user), include Eircode capture.
Financial Services Ombudsman Council	As per the Financial Services Ombudsman Bureau (FSOB) reply.
Investor Compensation Company Limited (ICCL)	ICCL has two data sources for their database of addresses: - Central Bank official registers for participant firms (not within ICCL control); - Claimant submissions (within ICCL control). With regard to the Claimant submissions, ICCL systems are developed to facilitate the receipt and recording of Eircode details for claimants if supplied to them, they do not mandate the requirement for the Eircode. For the participant firm data, ICCL are dependent on the CBI data stream.  The CBI have started to record Eircode for authorised firms.  ICCL automatically update their records in this regard on receipt from the CBI data stream.
Irish Bank Resolution Corporation	IBRC (in Special Liquidation) have recently moved to a new premises in Kings Building, Church Street, Dublin 7 and have applied for an Eircode, this application is currently being processed. In relation to IBRC (in Special Liquidation) correspondence with households, they record Eircodes as and when they are made aware of them from households.
Irish Financial Services Appeals Tribunal (IFSAT)	IFSAT does not use the Eircode as of yet however it is the intention of the Tribunal to use the Eircode once they have secured new office accommodation (currently in progress).
Irish Fiscal Advisory Council	IFAC shares the same building as the ESRI and note the ESRI's Eircode.
National Asset Management Agency	NAMA is progressing the implementation of Eircode. The Eircode reference has been included in contact details on the NAMA website and staff will be advised to include the eircode as part of their email signatures. Similarly, NAMA will engage with facilities in relation to headed paper etc.  You will appreciate that NAMA is currently working through its existing stock of collateral and it wouldn't be appropriate to dispose of these given the costs involved.
National Treasury Management Agency	The National Treasury Management Agency has ensured that all key systems are either currently provisioned for Postcode/Eircode data entry or are planned to be so provisioned. The NTMA would have limited communication with households via An Post, primarily this would be through Human Resources. The new My HR system which has been recently launched facilitates the use of Eircode.
Office of the Revenue Commissioners	Revenue advise that currently, about 60% of postal addresses in Revenue's database of individual and business customers have the appropriate Eircode. Revenue's customers can have the Eircode included on their Revenue record either via the MyAccount facility or when they file a return either online or in paper. All Local Property Tax correspondence from Revenue includes the Eircode where Revenue has that information. Revenue has been extending the facility to provide the Eircode via its tax returns and other forms (paper and online, English and Irish) on a rolling basis since Quarter 3 of 2015. Thus far, 52 separate forms provide the facility to update the Eircode. This is an ongoing programme of work as evidenced, for example, by the fact that a further 4 forms will include that facility this month. Revenue estimates that it has to date issued 1.6million pieces of correspondence which include an Eircode since Eircodes were introduced.
Social Finance Foundation	The CEO of the Social Finance Foundation has advised that as they are a wholesale provider of funds, they do not communicate with households directly. The SFF does, however, include the Eircode on the header of any communication sent out and on the footer of electronic communication.
Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland	The SBCI gathers data from SMEs to assess their eligibility for SBCI funding and to meet the reporting requirements of its funders.  This information is gathered through the SBCI's Loan Portal which has been deployed to its on lending partners.  The information about the SME required as part of a loan application includes: name, address, county and NUTS code.  The SBCI has upgraded the Loan Portal to also request the Eircode for each SME, however, this is not a mandatory field. The SBCI cannot enforce the capture of this information as the data required for each SBCI loan application is specified in the original lending agreements with its on lenders. The SBCI intends to encourage its on lenders to capture the Eircode of SMEs going forward.
Tax Appeals Commission	The Tax Appeals Commission has incorporated its Eircode reference into all its stationery, business cards etc. and also on its website. The Tax Appeals Commissioners use their Eircode on all correspondence with parties with whom they communicate and also use Eircodes provided by third parties as appropriate when communicating with them.