It is being claimed that the new Eircode postcode system will not help postal deliveries or emergency services.

The non-compulsory system cost some €27m to introduce, and provides every house in the country with a unique seven-digit code.

But Sunday Times columnist Kevin Myers says the system will simply not work for postal workers.

"Most service companies will not be using Eircode and An Post has got a superb delivery which doesn't need the Eircode", he told the Pat Kenny Show.

"The local delivery offices do not have the technology that would enable (a postman) to find the address - he's still going to have to use the old system - he doesn't have, in his van, a machine that can de-code the address".

In terms of emergency services using the system to get to locations quicker, Mr Myers says: "It's just not true".

"The two things have not been integrated - the thing was rolled out before the ECAS, the Emergency Call Answering Service, was integrate this and it still has to be done".

But Eircode says that: "The new national computer aided dispatch system, which is expected to commence operations with the national ambulance service in September 2015, will be Eircode enabled".

"It's not a discreet system that answers your requirements - it requires a back up from elsewhere, which defeats the whole purpose", Myers says - referring to the fact that people need to go to the Eircode website to check addresses.

Firms will also have to buy access to the database if they decide to use it.

"This is something that could have been sorted out two or three years ago, get everyone onboard and (have) everyone understanding what they're talking about and using the same language"

"This is something the State should have done and it chose not to", Myers says.

No Eircode spokesperson was available to speak to the Pat Kenny Show, nor was Communications Minister Alex White.