Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their interesting contributions on this serious issue. I note the Bobby Kerr report was commenced 24 months ago. We have had two phases of that report and will have to wait another six months for an update on where An Post is going. It will be 30 months since this review was commenced. It is a perfect storm, in that the demand for the service is declining yet the population is increasing. People have moved to the use of electronic services and away from the use of the old traditional services. This poses the question as to how we will deal with that. The national spatial strategy indicates that 1 million more people will be living in Ireland in the next 20 years. We have had an additional increase in population of 1 million over the past 20 years. The population has increased yet the demand for this service has continued to decrease. The concern is on how we can move the service forward over the course of the next 20 years, if it survives.

There are two lines of thought on this. We are considering reform of the service and increases to the pricing. I might be wrong on that but I believe that is the general thought on how we will move An Post forward. The proposed reform of An Post includes providing a banking structure or working with a bank and perhaps incorporating a shop and offering a motor tax service. Those are the reforms proposed in the Bobby Kerr report. When we take into account what the regulator, Mr. Kevin O'Brien, stated regarding the proposed reform of a 2% saving that failed to be delivered by An Post, what confidence can we have that An Post can deliver these reforms? That is a concern. If the 2% saving proposed previously was not delivered, how can we have confidence that these lines of proposed reforms can be delivered? That is the dilemma we face. We must have confidence that these reforms can be delivered. Previously a proposed reform was not delivered but we are saying these proposed reforms can be delivered. I hope that can happen. The reforms Bobby Kerr has proposed are positive. It has taken 24 months for them to be put forward but they are good. If we look at the history, do we have confidence that they can be delivered?

There is also the issue of the pricing structure. The cost of a stamp to post mail locally is 72 cent. The cost of sending a postcard to New Zealand is €1.10. I can send a card to my friend from Cavan seated beside me for 72 cent but it would cost me €1.10 to send a postcard to my first cousin in New Zealand. There is a major issue regarding our pricing structure and how we are going to address that. That is the other side of the equation. The question is: how are we going to deal with those issues? The international post side needs to examined more than anything else as it is a key issue in delivering a pricing structure that can benefit the network.

Can these reforms be delivered, taking into consideration the history and the regulator saying that they were not previously delivered?