Mr. Liam Sheehan:

Deputy Coffey also asked about motor tax. Over the past three years we have made two formal proposals to the Department regarding moving motor tax to the post office, which is the natural home for it. We could improve the service to the community and save costs too. We engage regularly with the HSE and are discussing the possibility of moving HSE payments to post offices. That is part of a larger discussion within the HSE. We are anxious to play an active part in it. We are in regular contact with Departments and are very anxious to follow up on any opportunities and to bring them to fruition.

One of our strategies in maintaining the size of the network is to ensure we do not allow space in the market for an alternative network to develop that could compete for Government contracts. There is no doubting the strength of the post office network or the trust in it, but it behoves us as a management team to put the proper defensive strategies in place and maintain the post office as the premier network. Services such as PostPoint have an active role to play in defending that status.

We are the market leader in Ireland in parcel deliveries. That is hidden by the fact that they are delivered in An Post trucks or by local postmen and not by separate liveried transport. One of the big advantages of the digital age is that it offers us significant opportunities to deliver online purchases. We deal with most of the market leaders in that area.