Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State for taking this Topical Issue. I had hoped that the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications would be present and, therefore, I hope that the Minister of State will bring back any questions that we raise here, and those of the people of Tipperary town.

Last Thursday, we received an email from An Post to say that it was changing Tipperary post office to a contractor-run post office. I was shocked and so was the town of Tipperary. A meeting took place that evening with staff and the worry then started spreading about what was going to happen with the post office. I am opposed to this move and so are most of the people of Tipperary town for a number of reasons that I will outline.

The first issue is the location of the post office. Its current location is more or less the centre of the town. After getting the notification, myself, Councillors Tony Black and Anne Marie Ryan made inquiries. I want to thank Mr. Angus Laverty for being forthcoming with us. The trouble is he could not give us a guarantee that the post office was going to remain in its current location. After six months there is a possibility that the post office will be moved. It is a huge concern locally that the post office will be moved and I will explain why. In the past fortnight a number of small businesses have closed in Tipperary town because of a lack of footfall. The town centre has also lost the court services, which is another issue that I want to raise. The book is not closed on this matter as far as we are concerned.

The town has a huge level of deprivation. Indeed, that led to the establishment of a task force on social inclusion whose research found that one in every three households in Tipperary town does not own a car so there are significant implications for access to services. This is the highest figure recorded out of all the settlement areas in County Tipperary. Coupled with that is the high rate of people over the age of 65. We all know that this cohort of people uses post offices more than anybody else. That indicates to us, for that cohort of people, that all services must be kept as close to the centre of town as possible. If An Post's plans do go ahead, it is vital that the post office service is located in the centre of town because it will bring additional footfall to the surrounding local businesses. I hope we do not see any more businesses close down. Tipperary has suffered due to a lack of a bypass, which is an issue that has dragged on for more than 40 years. Promises were made by different Governments down through years.

Myself and others cannot understand if a revitalisation task force was set up to try and improve Tipperary town that another part of the Government is taking services away, or threatening to take services away. I put this to An Post and was told that this was just part of the ongoing conversion programme and it appears suitable for a town to have such a change thrust upon it. This matter does not seem to have been considered. We have the same issue in my own town of Cashel and there is talk of the post office being moved, something on which we want to get clarification.

An Post has told us that it needs a post office in Tipperary town but it cannot guarantee us that if this does not work with the postmaster, or if the company does go in and 12 months or two years down the road, it decides it is not viable. We want guarantees from the Government, which controls the post office network, that if An Post does that, the Government or the company will step back in and run the service in Tipperary town in a central location.

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the opportunity to outline the position on the matter on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Éamon Ryan and the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers. An Post is a commercial State company with a mandate to act commercially and, as such, day-to-day operational matters, including decisions on the size, distribution and future of the network, are matters for the board and the management of the company, and not ones in which the Minister has a statutory function.

However, both the Minister and the Minister of State are aware of the impact that decisions relating to changes in An Post operations have on communities and individuals both in rural and urban areas. The Department will engage with An Post to outline and highlight the concerns that have been raised by staff, consumers and the wider community.

As the Deputy outlined, in line with its ongoing transformation, An Post announced last week that it proposes to convert six post offices from An Post-run to contractor-run. One of these is in Tipperary town. Fewer than 40 post offices out of a total of more than 900 across the State are now run directly by An Post. An Post has outlined that the change in business model of the six offices will not in any way change the range or extent of services offered by the company in those selected locations. The company remains committed to providing each area with the highest level of service for the future.

An Post has advised that staff who are employed at post offices in question will have the option to take up employment as a new postmaster or to be redeployed within the network. The Government’s objectives for An Post network include harnessing the opportunities presented by e-commerce and digital economy, delivering a sustainable nationwide post office network at the heart of communities, and offering a range of e-commerce, financial and government services.

The Government agreed that €10 million per annum will be provided by the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications over a three-year fixed term from 2023 to 2025 to support the postmasters, with funding to be dispersed across the post office network. The funding will be paid monthly for each 12-month period. More than €9.7 million has been claimed by An Post for 2023 for the postmaster network.

The programme for Government recognises that a modernised post office network will provide a better range of financial services and e-commerce services for citizens and enterprise, as part of our commitment to a sustainable nationwide post office network. The overall €30 million in funding that is being provided to support a sustainable nationwide post office network is in line with this commitment.

Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State, but I will return to the fact that Tipperary town needs a guarantee that, in the event that it fails to choose a postmaster or, if down the road it chooses to opt out, An Post would resume responsibility. I am asking for the Minister to examine this and respond to us. The Government speaks about how the town is in need of revitalisation and it has funded a task force, but it then took a decision like this. That is absolutely crazy as far as we are concerned. It flies completely in face of everything they have been doing to try to revitalise towns such as Tipperary.

I acknowledge the Minister has named another four towns, but to the best of my knowledge, Tipperary town is the only place to which the Government is giving money to revitalise. The other four towns are not affected by that. That is why we are asking for the Minister to get directly involved with An Post and the revitalisation task force to come to a solution and give guarantees to Tipperary town.

I want to raise the issue of jobs as well. An Post can say that this is not a matter of downgrading their jobs, but the staff have been given the opportunity to either stay in the post office or go to the postmaster for a new contract. There is no guarantee that their contract and conditions will be the same. We are asking for the Government to intervene or engage with An Post to make sure that if the staff choose to leave An Post and go to the postmaster, their conditions will be same as they would have been if they had stayed with An Post.

Before I finish, I will again say that we are not in favour of this. We have no problem with the post offices upgrading their services, etc., but there must be one in the middle of a town like Tipperary. As I said, all the indicators are that this a town that is in need of help and not for services to be taken away from it.

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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I have listened with interest to the points the Deputy raised. As indicated earlier, decisions relating to post offices are operational matters for An Post and are not matters for the Minister or where the Minister has a statutory function. An Post, as he will know, plays an important role in serving the needs of business and domestic customers alike. This is at the forefront of An Post’s mandate.

The Minister and the Minister of State, with departmental officials, will reflect the concerns that have been outlined by the Deputy to An Post regarding its announcement. The Government is committed to a sustainable An Post and a post office network as a key component of the economic and social infrastructure throughout Ireland, now and into the future.