Mr. Brian McGann:

Postmasters will deliver the welfare payments business in whatever way the Government wants us to deliver it. However, without the €20 million revenue we receive for delivering that business, postmasters will not be in business. The bottom line is that we need income from business to survive. We are flexible and we will do what is needed. At one point, social welfare recipients had to a have a book of vouchers and if a social welfare payment increased, one could end up with three or four such books. That system was eliminated when a card system was introduced. Post offices can continue to be flexible in future.