Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

My advice to people on the Cork side of the border is that they should do the same.
I thank the delegates for coming. I must register my disappointment that the CEO is unable to attend. Everyone is busy and people have different places to be, but I cannot think of where is more important for the CEO of this organisation than before the committee. Mr. Daly and Mr. Sheehan are perfectly credible and efficient delegates but the CEO should be here.
I must declare that I am a postmaster. For generations, postmasters had a contractual right to apply to transfer their appointment to a family member or, in some cases, an assistant who had been in situfor many years. This contributed to post offices being held by families for generations and providing continuity for communities. The same families served the same families for decades. The Irish Postmasters Union, IPU, stated An Post had removed this right for families to apply for a transfer and it has caused difficulties for many postmasters and their families. Why was this done? This loss of opportunity for postmasters to hand on the post office to the next generation is unfair. The An Post delegates may respond that it is a requirement that the post office contract be put out to open tender, but our post office is about community and continuity of service more than anything else.
The delegates referred to the trials they were carrying out. I highlight the commitment of Tesco to its customers in a frank way. In the town of Killarney Tesco became involved in the retail business selling petrol and reduced prices to such a level that existing service stations could not buy fuel at the Tesco sales price. Tesco continued for weeks and months and, after a couple of years, succeeded in closing down 12 or 13 family run businesses that had been operating in the town of Killarney for decades. When that was done and it realised it would not get rid of anymore, it controlled the price by increasing it. Today it is kept grossly high because it has done away with the competition. The delegates think it is proper to take An Post services to people who deal in that way, but it is wrong. Although I cannot use the word, it is criminal to do what An Post is doing.