Fianna Fáil Senator Mary White has claimed the new Eircode system is placing householders in the wrong geographical area.

She told the Seanad that Dublin residents had complained to her they were being placed in the wrong area.

"There are people all over Ireland who have been located in geographically incorrect towns, counties and even provinces,'' said Ms White.

"The system has even located Shannon Airport in Limerick, whereas we all know it is in Clare, while residents in Leixlip have had Naas added to their address.''

She claimed homes in west Wicklow had received a Kildare postcode and, according to Eircode, people in Dublin 16 actually live in Dublin 24.

“The list of inaccuracies is endless,’’ she added.

In other countries, Ms White said, codes were assigned in an orderly fashion and, as a result, areas close to each other had a similar code.

“The new Eircode system has created amazing confusion,’’ she said. “Every Government agency I have contacted about this issue has completely washed its hands of it.’’

She said even at this late stage a period of up to one year for an appeal process on anomalies should be established.

GeoDirectory

Minister of State

Kathleen Lynch

, standing in for Minister for Communications

Alex White

, said the most comprehensive database was owned by GeoDirectory, a subsidiary of

An Post

and Ordnance Survey Ireland and provided under licence to Eircode.

Ms Lynch said members of the public who felt their postal address was incorrect could contact An Post.

“An Post will investigate the matter and, if it decides to amend the address, it will update its central database.”