Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for coming before the committee. I am from Newcastle West in County Limerick and between the mid-1990s and 2005 eight post offices in a ring around the town closed for the reasons described by Mr. Daly. People opted for places with increased footfall and the commercial viability of the post offices was affected. An enhanced relationship between An Post and retail outlets such as Tesco, SuperValu or Dunnes Stores will make centralising footfall par for the course and a self-fulfilling prophecy. Centralising a service to where there is increased footfall will invariably lead to having more than the original ten locations. How many more of these locations does An Post estimate there will be? What are their successes at present? Are the rates of pay for staff comparable to the rates of pay for staff working for postmasters or in An Post-owned offices throughout the country?

Online shopping is a fact of life for many people throughout the country. While I see people availing of Internet-based shopping I see little evidence of An Post being a driver for the delivery of parcels. Its competitors are streets ahead.

Last week we met the postmasters and we have also had discussions with other stakeholders. What level of engagement has An Post had with the NTMA, the Department of Finance and the credit union movement with a view to enhancing the banking services available? A very good savings scheme is available but in isolated rural areas there may be a lack of critical mass between the credit union, the post office and the bank. A person could go into the post office to draw down a small loan regardless of the bank involved.

There is no point in putting 500 people into a hall on the night it is announced the post office will close because it is already gone. Has An Post ever considered an early warning system, on an annual basis or every three or four years, so a community could see how much support its post office receives locally? There is a rush to support them when it is too late. The witnesses stated they want An Post to go into areas of high footfall to take on its competitors but this draws people out of communities already in danger.

Mr. Daly stated up to 95% of the population live within 5 km of a post office. This means more than 250,000 people live more than 5 km from a post office. I could almost identify where these people are. They are west and south of the Shannon in massive geographical areas. Some of them may be more than 15 km from a post office and the round trip is what exercises people.

I presume An Post has a social commitment. I know it has a commercial remit and it must wash its own face but there is a social element. Not everybody has a SuperValu or Tesco in their community. A concentration on this mentality will have implications for the post office network and communities, but also for the staff working in post offices. On what basis has this concept been formed? Is it fair? Are the rates of pay, the opening hours and the services the same? We have seen this happen before. As I stated, my area lost eight post offices over 15 years in a five mile radius of the town of Newcastle West.