The new postcode system - Eircode - has come under fire on its first day of operation.
Communications Minister Alex White has insisted that Eircode is ‘accurate’ and ‘efficient’.
Freight companies including FedEx and DHL say they will not use the service because it is 'outdated' - and the unique 7-digit codes are not searchable on Sat Navs or Google Maps.
Meanwhile, people have been using social media to complain about their homes being marked in the wrong towns, counties or provinces - including it locating Shannon Airport in Co Limerick instead of Co Clare.
The new service is optional and will not replace any existing lines of addresses.
Eircode says 2.2 million individual numbers will be posted to properties in the coming days.
Green Party leader Eamon Ryan was one of the politicians to push for the introduction of a postal code system in Ireland - but thinks the Government has 'got it wrong'.
Speaking to the Right Hook today, Mr Ryan explained that "it has been ten years, and that's a long wait. We're pretty much the last developed country in the world to get postcodes."
However Mr Ryan told George that even after ten years, he wishes the Government "had gone the extra mile and got it right". He went on to explain the technical reasons behind why he believes the new system is flawed:
The Communications Minister Alex White says 'we can't solve all the problems' of Ireland's new postcode system in one day.
Minister White says the system is efficient - despite early concerns. He told Newstalk Lunchtime people need to give the system a chance.
Eircode - how do you get yours?
The new system will use a three digit area identifier – Dublin 1 will be D01, for example – and a randomised four digit number to identify the individual residence – with a specific aim of making it easier for emergency services and deliveries to find specific properties, particularly in rural areas.
Eircode say the new system will "remove the hassle and mistakes out of finding addresses in Ireland."
"Over 35% of addresses in Ireland share their address with at least one other property, making it difficult for those delivering goods and services to accurately identify the location of an address. Eircode has been designed specifically to overcome this problem. Unlike other countries where postcodes define a cluster or group of addresses, a unique Eircode will be assigned to each residential and business address," the company says on Eircode.ie.
But several people have been tweeting that their addresses are inaccurate, and others just unimpressed with the system as a whole.
Did @irishwater design the @Eircode database? Sooey in Sligo is apparently now in Co Roscommon. Promising. #eircode pic.twitter.com/h6a4JIF8NI
— Ciaran Byrne (@CiaranByrne) July 13, 2015
#Eircode appears to not be aware of our office location. Concealed as we are in the wilds of Dublin 8.
— Simon McGarr (@Tupp_Ed) July 13, 2015
#eircode is daft. My neighbours code is totally different to mine. Who made this illogical system? We didn't need to reinvent the wheel here
— robscanlon (@robscanlon) July 13, 2015
In the UK you can enter any postcode into Google Maps and get a location. Guess what happens when you enter an #eircode? SPOILER: nothing
— John Handelaar (@handelaar) July 13, 2015
To debate the benefits and flaws in the new system Breakfast welcomed on Neil McDonnell, General Manager of the Freight Transport Association of Ireland (FTAI), and John Tuohy, CEO of Nightline couriers.
Mr McDonnell told Breakfast he believes the new system “is not fit for purpose” and “strictly speaking” isn’t even a postcode system.
Along with that, the very idea of a postal based code system – when physical post may be almost obsolete within 10 years – seems absurd to the FTAI.
Meanwhile, Mr Tuohy argued that the new system will “revolutionise” life for Ireland’s delivery services.
Listen to the full debate on the new Eircode system below:
