The Minister of Communications has formally signed the contract for implementation of an Irish postcode system. Pat Rabbitte signed the Postcode Management Licence Holder (PMLH) with Capita Ireland.

The 10-year contract provides for the design, encoding and roll-out of a national postcode system. It is due to be launched in the first quarter of 2015.

The design will use a postcode as a unique identifier for each and every address in Ireland.

Speaking at the announcement, Minister Rabbitte said "A publicly-owned postcode system is 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. I'm very pleased to announce the signing of the contract with Capita who will develop and operate the next generation postcode system for the State" he added.

Seven-character format

The national postcode system will use a 7-character code in an alpha numeric format. Existing Dublin postal districts will be retained.

The government says the new postcode will provide benefits for householders, businesses and State bodies.

Parcel and mail deliveries from An Post and other delivery companies will be able to use the new postcode system to quickly identify the location of a single house set in the countryside, or an apartment in a newly-developed multi-storey.

Emergency services will also benefit according to Martin Dunne, Director of the National Ambulance Service.

"The implementation of postcodes for every premises in Ireland represents an unprecedented opportunity for the National Ambulance Service to ensure fast and accurate location of incidents, resulting in the best possible response for our patients and service users" he said.

Briefings and engagement with large database holders from utilities, business and commercial State bodies are planned for the coming weeks.

Pictured above: Vic Gysin, COO of Capita plc (left), & Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte (right)