Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte has formally signed a contract worth some €25.6 million over 10 years, for the introduction of the long-awaited national postcode system, with Capita Ireland.
Capita Ireland, with BearingPoint and Autoaddress, will develop a “world first” design for a seven-character postcode that gives a unique classification for every single address in Ireland, according to the Department of Communications.
Existing Dublin postal districts will be retained under the new system.
Introduction of the new postcode system, the first national code in the State, will begin in the first six months of 2015 and is expected to cost €16 million to develop over two years. After that it will cost an estimated €1.2 million annually to operate for the duration of the 10-year licence.
'Significant benefits'
Mr Rabbitte said a publicly owned postcode system was a key piece of modern national infrastructure, and "ours will be the first in the world to be unique to each individual address. It will bring significant benefits to the public, business and government".
Welcoming the contract, Vic Gysin, chief operating officer of Capita plc, said "this is an important project that will bring many benefits to the public and business".
Capita Ireland employs 1,100 people in Dublin and Maynooth and also has three offices in Northern Ireland. With a UK headquarters, the company currently has three public sector contracts in the State. It is under contract with the Department of Enterprise, managing its credit guarantee system for business loans, where the State guarantees loans.
It operates as an intermediary between Nama and the banks in a second contract; and in a second project for Nama, it has taken on the loan book and some staff of the former IBRC bank.
Consortium partner
Capita Ireland also has private sector contracts, including the processing of life assurance and pension claims for insurance companies. Its consortium partner BearingPoint is an Irish IT consultancy company, while Autoaddress are experts in addresses.
More than 35 per cent of households do not have a unique name or number in their address, which has created problems for both postal and other deliveries and for the emergency services.
The department said companies and services would be quickly able to identify any location.
Director of the National Ambulance Service Martin Dunne said the unique identifier for each individual address was an unprecedented opportunity for the service.
