Mr. Brian McGann:

I looked at the amendment proposed by the Minister yesterday evening and I looked at the motion written by the postmasters. The postmasters are asking for action. The Minister is possibly offering us some sort of review that might do something at some point in the future. What we want is action. What our customers want is action. What is happening on the ground is that by 2017, we will have lost the welfare payments business and €20 million in revenue will be lost directly by postmasters. They will be forced to close the door of their offices. We are calling on the Government to take action. The Government made its promise in the programme for Government. All we are asking is how that promise will be kept.

The Minister's motion essentially proposes that the Government is prepared to sleepwalk into a situation where the welfare payments business disappears by stealth. On behalf of postmasters in this country, we are not prepared to accept that as an outcome. We want to know what is the plan. We are prepared to put our shoulder to the wheel. We have been proactive in developing business proposals and having them costed. We will come up with the ideas and do the business where and when it needs to be done. We will meet our obligations, but the Government needs to have some plan and needs to give direction to An Post.

Our customers are overwhelmingly asking us to ensure we start a petition they are prepared to sign at every post office throughout the country demanding that their post office be kept. I think our customers clearly feel that what is proposed in the Government's amendment would not meet their needs in the long term.