Mr. Kevin O'Brien:

I again thank the members of the committee for the opportunity to appear here today. I will talk about our high-level goals, outlined on page 5. We have identified three high-level goals for the postal sector: to ensure the provision and availability of the universal postal service, which is very clear under the Act; to promote the interests of postal service users generally; and to promote the sector by facilitating competition and innovation. Pages 6 and 7 give some detail on the primary goal of ensuring the provision and availability of the universal postal service.

An Post is designated under the 2011 Act as the universal postal service provider.

What is the universal postal service? Under the legislation, this is the delivery and collection of mail every working day of the week. This requires ComReg to set out a minimum set of vital services that constitute that universal postal service. On foot of the 2011 Act, ComReg has consulted on the issue and has set out this minimum specification of services, which I will outline briefly. The universal service, as set out by ComReg following consultation on foot of the 2011 Act, includes a single piece service for letter, packets and parcels, a registered items services, an insured items service, a free single piece service for blind or partially sighted people, a bulk mail service and various other ancillary services. An Post is designed to provide these services.

We have designated this minimum specification in the public interest to ensure these necessary services are available to organisations, businesses and individuals throughout the country. We do this in a way that minimises the regulatory burden on An Post. Our three priorities for achieving this goal are identified on slide 6, namely, to ensure the universal postal service provider complies with its obligations, to ensure the appropriate incentives are in place in order that delivery of that service is efficient and, hence, sustainable, and to bring regulatory certainty to the environment in which the service is delivered.

It is important to acknowledge that on foot of the 2011 Act, An Post, as the universal service provider, has certain obligations and needs to operate within a particular framework, one which emphasises cost control, appropriate pricing and quality of service by the universal postal service provider. It is vital that An Post operates with a view to a sustainable universal postal service on this basis. There is an interesting quotation from the directive at the bottom of page 7, which in some ways melds the traditional and modern while identifying that postal services are vital for social and territorial cohesion and equally recognising that in the modern world the postal service is often the final leg of an e-commerce transaction, with, as stated by Mr. Chisholm, e-fulfilment being the final stage, namely, the delivery of a parcel in the post on foot of an online purchase. While mail volume has declined, the importance of the postal sector in the new world remains.

Our second priority is the promotion of the interests of postal service users. This applies to all postal services and not only universal postal services. As mentioned, postal services are vital for business and, in Ireland's case, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses, which depend significantly on the postal service to contact customers and receive payment. In this regard, reliability and affordability for the SME sector remain vital. In empowering the postal user, ComReg focuses on appropriate and transparent information and on ensuring all operators have appropriate complaint procedures in place. We pursue operators to ensure they uphold their obligations in this regard.

Our third priority, as set out on page 9, is the promotion of the sector through the facilitation of competition and innovation. Under the Act the promotion of competition is specifically subsequent to the primary obligation of preserving the universal postal service. Our focus is on providing certainty to all operators, on facilitating entry into the market and on competition in the market. The market has been fully liberalised since 2011 across all postal products. It is worth mentioning that we do not have competition law powers in relation to the postal sector. Those powers rest with the Competition Authority. We have a limited dispute resolution role in relation to access to the An Post network by other operators. We place a lot of value on promoting the sector and on carrying out and making available research on the full range of postal activity in Ireland. I will now hand over to Mr. Chisholm who will give a brief summary of our actions going forward.