Seven-character postcodes are to be allocated to every home in Donegal by 2015.
The system led to the disappearance of many townland names from every day usage in the North.
In Derry the authorities have spent the past 10 years attempting to reverse the loss of the townland heritage by erecting signs.
The new post codes will also mean there would be no hiding place for those hoping to avoid the new Broadcasting License which will replace the TV license and must be paid by every household, whether they have a television or not.
Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte said the move was an attempt to help emergency, postal, and “other service providers to locate households.”
The postcode will be a seven-character code in the format A65 B2CD, with the first three characters relating to a general area or postal district in which the address is located.
Around a third of addresses in the country are not unique, and in many rural areas in Donegal dozens of homes can use the same townland address.
Minister Rabbitte said: “Most countries have had the benefit of such systems since the mid 1900s. I am very glad to announce that in making the move now we have been able to use the technology and systems available today to move to a next generation system.
“The Irish code will be the first in the world to be unique to each individual address.”
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