Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman for letting me in. I apologise for missing the earlier part of the meeting. I was at the meeting of the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Some of my questions may have been answered and I apologise if that is the case.

I agree with the sentiments that have been expressed about Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour Party members. It is a sign of the role they have played that post office closures have taken place throughout the country on a continuous basis over the past 20 years. It is important to mention that because attempts are being made to suggest everybody is to blame.

The Minister has given a good defence of his role with regard to post offices as an Independent member of the Government. That might be a signal of what needs to happen in the future if we are to continue to defend post offices.

I ask Mr. McRedmond and the Minister to explain the relationship between the Department and An Post. The distinctions between the roles of both bodies need to be clarified.

The Minister has said that his Department is rolling out some services through the post offices. I ask him to explain how that came about. Did they go out to tender? If so, how did An Post win that tender? This is important as well.

I refer to the closures that have been announced. The number of closures in County Donegal - 17 - is the second highest in the country. Why were the service improvements not rolled out to see how they would work before the closures were announced? It would be better to approach the matter in that way rather than announcing the closures first. Some of these post offices could be viable when the new services are available and are happening. That is important. The approach that is being taken has led to unnecessary conflict. This could all be done in a different way.

Mr. McRedmond mentioned earlier that is not possible to keep a post office open that is conducting just 12 transactions per week. I would be interested to know how many of the post offices that are proposed for closure have just 12 transactions per week.