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

Yes, but I said I did not want to use it. It is criminal. Two weeks ago the Minister said that if people were not shopping on the high street we would put the service where they were going for fear of losing business. He repeated this yesterday in response to Deputy Michael Moynihan at Question Time and the An Post delegates seem to have the same idea. If we nurture and promote the 1,100 post offices and work together to provide more services, we will get over this hump and retain the network. I am glad that in December 2006 a Fine Gael motion tabled by the excellent Deputy Bernard J. Durkan was supported by Fine Gael. I was disappointed that it did not do the same two weeks ago in respect of a motion tabled by the IPU through the Technical Group. We all want to ensure we will hold what we have and that we will not lose more post offices, but as sure as night follows day, by carrying out trials, the delegates will help to send us down the slippery slope. People will say they will go to Tesco and do it all there, including their shopping and buying petrol, and conduct the business they should be doing in the local post office. When this happens, when more post offices are closed down and when we lose half of the network, people will cry and say it is wrong. Deputy Paudie Coffey said he did not want to have to go into a hall to fight a big campaign about how it was a fright people had lost their post office, but An Post is a big player in retaining the post office network.

When they are leaving this meeting, the delegates should be rubbing shoulders with representatives of the IPU and going into a quiet room to ask what they can do to work together to ensure Government policy will be to retain services and the way in which they can enhance and attract more business and provide more services.

They should think about how to make leaving the high street and moving to the big shopping centres less attractive.