Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman for the opportunity to ask some questions as I am not a member of the committee.

The Minister and the chief executive officer, Mr. McRedmond will be aware that in Donegal, 17 post offices are scheduled for closure from south Donegal right up to the Inishowen Peninsula, my own home place. A number of public meetings are taking place and a number of communities are trying to save their postal services. I trust that Mr. McRedmond will listen to the proposals brought by them and consider the case for keeping open those post offices in Donegal.

There is much hypocrisy in this room. I was doing some research and a response to a parliamentary question in 2005 from the then Minister confirmed that in January 1999, there were 1,911 post offices across the State. By 2011 that number had dropped to 1,156, meaning 755 post offices were closed under a Fianna Fáil Government. To repeat, 1,911 post offices were open across the State in January 1999 and by 2011, under a Fianna Fáil Government, 755 of them closed. There must be some honesty about whether the recent announcement came out of nowhere. There has been a gradual collapse of the post office network across this State. It is the first fact that should be read into the record today. We must have some honesty, particularly from those who are making a political case.

Under the EU postal services directive, to which the State signed up quite a while ago, we have limited the capacity for the State to subsidise our post office network. We have tied the hands of our Government. It is why we have turned what should be a service at the heart of our rural communities in every village into something that must make a profit and have a business case. We need honesty about these two facts. It is the context or background of how we got where we are today. It is not the fault of the Minister, Deputy Naughten, on his own or Mr. McRedmond. They inherited this legacy and they have now been asked to speak to it. I cannot fathom how certain political spokespersons, when we consider their own track record and what they presided over, have the audacity to call out the witnesses today.