Paul Connaughton (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on this important issue. Like the other speakers on both sides of the House, I fully support the post office network and the service it provides, particularly in constituencies like my own which are primarily rural. The Minister referred to the economic profile aspect of this, but we also must bear in mind the social element. In many small towns and villages the local post office is in a row alongside the local butcher, grocer and hardware store. They are all inextricably linked and many people who come in to use one service will also use some or all of the others. If we take one out, there could potentially be damage to the others.

I welcome the Minister's reference to a whole-of-government approach to these issues and the establishment of a sub-committee to oversee that. Can he give us a timeline for when that sub-committee will begin its work and thereafter bring forward proposals? My understanding from meeting with postmasters in the past week is that they see their future being based in large part around what is contained in the Grant Thornton report. it is not unreasonable that we would take on board some of their concerns in this regard.

Other speakers referred to the importance to An Post of the social welfare contract. As we have seen, however, there seems to be a difficulty in that people are effectively being encouraged to move their payments away from the post office and into the banks. That is an issue of serious concern which should be addressed without delay. There certainly is potential for the development of an enhanced offering by post offices in terms of banking services. Many banks are leaving rural communities and, where they do so, they should be leaving their services behind in the post offices.

Like other speakers, I fully support the post office network, but the reality is that I do not use it enough. How many Deputies in this Chamber would have to admit to the same? How many members of the public are in the same situation? We all understand how useful and important local post offices are to communities, but we simply are not using them enough. The Government has a major part to play in planning for the future viability of the post office network, but there also must be a commitment by communities to use their post offices. We must all work together to implement the recommendations set out in the Grant Thornton report.

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