Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will be moving amendments Nos. 4 and 8, and I support all the amendments Nos. 1 to 8, inclusive. With the benefit of reflection, I am unsure whether we will achieve our desired objective but as the previous speaker indicated, that is due to the tight timeframe. We discussed Second Stage of this Social Welfare and Pensions Bill last week and I received a communication from the Bills Office to ask me to hurry in submitting amendments. That is despite the fact that there is a specific commitment in the programme for Government to allow at least two weeks for reflection and consideration between Second and Committee Stages of a Bill. I asked the Taoiseach about it recently and he told me this was a question of priorities. We are at least 75%, if not more, into the life of this Government and that proposal in the programme for Government is pretty fundamental to the way we do business in the House. We should not just shunt legislation through like we are producing material in a factory. I wish the Government would get on and make the appropriate change, as it would help us achieve the time and space to properly draft amendments.

I would be happy if the Minister could introduce the appropriate amendments to meet the objective we are trying to achieve. She, along with every Member in these Houses, is aware of the social and economic importance of the post office network to this country. We are also aware that An Post is under severe pressure, with unavoidable changes in technology and electronic communications resulting in a position where the revenue of all post offices in countries around the world has steadily declined. An Post is currently heavily dependent on two Government contracts involving the National Treasury Management Agency and the Department of Social Protection. It is not desirable for a great State organisation like An Post to be unduly dependent on one or two Government contracts. I am committed to the idea that An Post should diversify and take on more responsibilities, with arrangements perhaps being made for all Government payments to go through it, including motor tax, etc. An Post could get some banking functions. We are aware of cases in rural Ireland particularly of bank branches closing but there is An Post infrastructure and services could be provided locally. Importantly, nothing should be done at this stage to fundamentally undercut the future revenue stream of the post office, because until a Government implements such desirable changes, it is essential for us to maintain what we have.

I take account of the Minister's reply on Second Stage regarding European rules, etc. The Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 is the basic legislation which brought together all the social welfare provisions in 2005, and this Bill is essentially an amendment of that Act. An Post is specifically mentioned in that legislation.

In other words, the legislation is framed against a backdrop where An Post is seen as the service provider for social welfare payments. That is being removed and we oppose it. One must ask, in a situation that is tenuous, what signal this gives. It certainly adds fuel to the fire generated by the Irish Postmasters' Union. I am sure its members will be on the media in the next few days to claim that their worst fears are being realised. The Government has assured the IPU, both publicly and privately, that it is totally committed to the future of An Post, but this legislation states the opposite. It is clearing the way and allowing for a situation where the fundamental contract for social welfare payments will be operated through an organisation other than An Post.

I realise there are technical difficulties owing to European regulations and so forth, but this is sending a deplorable signal. The technological advances the Minister is trying to accommodate in section 3 could be accommodated easily by retaining the reference to An Post. That would give those who are trying to save An Post and the people who are committed to its future the necessary reassurance. If the amendments before the Minister are legally inadequate to do the job we wish to do, she should bring forward her own in order that those who have been assured and reassured by various Ministers that they are committed to the future of An Post will see that these reassurances have some weight.