Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Mr. Mueller and wish him well as incoming chairman of An Post. As the Chairman said, An Post and its services are an integral part of urban and rural communities. I appreciate the points Mr. Mueller made in regard to Europe and services.

This debate on the future of the post office network and the provision of as many post offices as possible throughout the country has been going on for 20 years. We have lost a large number of post offices and the sense of community and identity in urban and rural communities has dwindled as a result. The retail network of An Post is very dear to our hearts in urban and rural communities. In his new role, will Mr. Mueller ensure they are protected and enhanced?

The debate has always been about what new services we can bring to post offices and whether they are State offices in communities and whether we should enhance them to reflect that. It is vital that An Post looks at what services can be attached to the network to enhance its business and the urban and rural communities it serves. A mainstay of the post office network over the past number of years has been the payment of social welfare benefits. Over time, the Department of Social Protection has been gearing people towards having their payments paid directly into their bank accounts. Some payments, however, were reserved completely for the post offices to avoid any confusion or fraud but I understand the Department has met to discuss the cost in the past two or three weeks. It is vital An Post keeps that service. If these social welfare payments are not paid by post offices, it will be very hard to sustain them in urban and rural communities. That issue needs to be looked at.

The report of this committee considered all the stakeholders. We should protect the social welfare payments paid by post offices at all costs. How does Mr. Mueller envisage enhancing An Post's retail outlets throughout the country to ensure they are viable going forward? It is very easy to let the service die out, to pull it back or to close a post office because it is not viable. However, the onus is on An Post to ensure it looks for new business and new ideas and that it enhances the network going forward.