LONG live Dublin 4. In a decision likely to be greeted by residents of the upmarket enclave with the joy usually reserved for a Schools’ Cup win, the capital’s most coveted, and most lampooned, postal district is set to survive a planned shake-up of the postal system.

An expert board set up to advise the government on how best to revamp the mailing system has recommended that Dublin’s existing numbered districts, with all their subtle social nuances, be kept intact.

The National Postcode Project Board has also advised that townlands should remain part of rural Ireland’s address make-up, to ensure the project gets the wider public’s stamp of approval.

The report is with Noel Dempsey, the minister for communications, who plans to introduce postcodes by January 1, 2008. He has remained tight-lipped about the nature of the system proposed, although he has hinted it will differ from the models in Britain and America.

Following the recommendations of the board, it is now understood that existing addresses will remain as they are, followed by a collection of easily remembered, localised letters and numbers. The government hopes this will allow mail and services to be delivered more quickly and accurately.

Members of the board said the frames of reference for the proposed postcode model urged against tinkering with Dublin’s postcodes, partly because of the sensitivity of residents in the city’s more leafy locales.

When An Post tried to transfer a portion of Dublin 6 into Dublin 12 in the 1970s, a concerted campaign by locals forced it to compromise and create Dublin 6W.

Estate agents report that identical houses on the postcode faultline between Dublin 6W and Dublin 12 can fluctuate in value by €30,000, depending on which side of the boundary they are located.

An Post is opposed to the introduction of a national postcode system, claiming it is not needed. However, the plan is backed by the emergency services, the Central Statistics Office (CSO), banks, direct marketing companies, the Electricity Supply Board (ESB) and other utilities.

Gerry Brady of the CSO said: “There is a shortage of localised geographical data in Ireland that makes it difficult to compare statistics and target resources, particularly when compared with other European countries. A postcode system would allow us to analyse the causes of poverty in an area and establish a link between unemployment and a lack of resources or a high proportion of early school leavers. At the moment we are looking at statistics like this in isolation.”

The Irish Direct Marketing Association is eager to dispel fears that postcodes will lead to an increase in junk mail. A spokesperson said: “We are the only industrialised country in the world without a postcode system. Instead of increasing junk mail, a postcode will make cold mailing obsolete. It means areas can be targeted in a professional, controlled way, so you will only receive mailshots of interest to you.”

Utility companies are also enthusiastic about the introduction of the system. Cormac Madden of the ESB said: “With non-unique addresses, your only contact reference is with a named resident, which can be problematic in a transient society. Outside Dublin, addresses are often unclear, which can be problematic when dispatching emergency crews.”

Advocates of the system claim that postcodes, when combined with satellite navigation, will help the emergency services, or the pizza delivery van, find addresses more efficiently.

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