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

My concern relates to what Deputy Connaughton said. The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport and Communications, of which I am a member, has done a lot of work on the future of the An Post network, in particular in rural communities. There is no doubt the sustainability of the network will come under enormous pressure. The reality is that for many communities no financial services will be available in huge tracts of the country in the near future. In recent weeks Ulster Bank announced the closure of branch networks and Allied Irish Banks announced a similar closure of bank networks. In my part of the world, one of the only financial service areas left is the An Post network, which is coming under severe pressure, in a lot of cases by virtue of the age profile of postmasters and the manner in which post offices can be handed on. The only other remaining network is the credit union movement.

To continue on from the point made by Deputy Áine Collins, the age profile of people concerned about credit unions in my constituency is high. That is a worry because many of them want to hand over to the next generation but in a lot of cases young people are not interested. There is a gap between the leadership of the credit union movement at the moment in rural areas and the tranche of people who would potentially be interested.

From the point of view of Deputies representing rural constituencies, I would like to know that in future a suite of financial services would be available to people in rural areas, regardless of their location. I would love to see ATM machines available through the credit union movement and Government financial services being transacted in credit unions. Limerick has been mentioned in the media in terms of such a development happening. ReBo has a wind-down date and then it will no longer exist, and the situation will be hanging in the ether and change may or may not happen. In the meantime, An Post is restricted in terms of what it can do with its network. The credit union membership also has restrictions on it. People in rural areas are in limbo in terms of whether they will have a financial service available to them. There is a great opportunity to do more and I would like to see a greater level of urgency attached.