The Communications Minister will launch Ireland's first national post code service today.

2.2 million homes and businesses across the country will be assigned an individual 7 digit 'Eircode' - which they will receive in the post in the coming weeks.

The optional service has cost over €20m and is aimed at reducing confusion surrounding non-unique addresses.

An Irish post code service was first proposed over a decade ago - and will be formally launched by Communications Minister Alex White this morning.

Some €27m has been spent on the Eircode scheme so far - which will see a seven digit code assigned to every property in the country.

Some 35 per cent of address in the State are not unique - and the scheme has been created to address that issue.

Dublin's codes will start with the letter D - with current postcodes like Dublin 1 becoming D01. Cork City is expected to get the letter T - while Galway to get H.

The Eircode system will be optional, so homes don't have to use their codes if they don't want to and it won't eliminate any existing lines in addresses.

All 2.2 million properties will be mailed their code over the next fortnight or members of the public can check their code on eircode.ie.