Noel Harrington (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The people demand a universal postal service. That is being provided for and ComReg oversees that, which is part of the remit we have given ComReg. That is accepted and what should happen.

I asked a question on the objectives of the regulation of the services. Mr. Chisholm answered it by outlining the function of ComReg. He said the first objective was to promote the development of the postal sector and, in particular, the availability of the universal postal service and so on. That means specifically dealing with An Post and no other operator. An Post is the universal service obligated company. An Post has said that ComReg does not interact with it to improve the mail quality. It arrives at a figure of non-compliance. An Post has said it cannot get any information from ComReg on how it is arrived at or the detailed information which its consultants have in arriving at that figure.

Looking at its primary objective in regard to the postal service, I would have thought ComReg would be more forthcoming with that information. Does ComReg provide An Post with the most detailed information it has in regard to the quality of service and delays in delivery times? If not, why not? That is a fundamental question. We need to have trust that An Post does what it is supposed to do with the obligation, and we need to have trust in ComReg. If those figures are available, ComReg should make them available to An Post or to this committee.