Kevin O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh maith agat. I welcome the Minister and Mr. McRedmond. I missed the start of the meeting. I hope I will not repeat some of the issues that were raised earlier. We all acknowledge that post offices have closed before this year, before last year and under previous regimes. I was picking my brain to recall the post offices in my own area that closed 20 years ago. Most of them were stand-alone post offices. There was a stand-alone post office in my parish of Ballindangan. I remember a big campaign 30 years ago when a stand-alone post office in Bartlemy was being closed.

There is a trend of bigger significance at the moment. It is having a bigger impact on communities. I have seen in my constituency that the closure of the local post office leads in many cases to the loss of the local shop as well. That is where this will have a major impact. I acknowledge that many post offices cannot stand alone. When post offices close, it can lead to the loss of other services, like shops and newsagents, in local communities. That is where a bigger backlash from the public will be felt.

Reference has been made to County Donegal and questions have been asked about who is causing the closure of all of these post offices. The appeals process has been mentioned. I ask Mr. McRedmond to provide for a 12-month period in which people can vote with their feet in local communities. This would allow people to use their local post offices and thereby take up the slack in local areas, if there is a slack. When I spoke to a postmistress, I got it in the ear from both sides. She acknowledged that there are people who should be able to use her post office but are choosing to go to a post office in a bigger town instead. They are passing her front door because they can avail of other services like banks in the bigger town.

I acknowledge the dilemma the Minister is facing. He cannot satisfy everybody, but he can look at other possibilities like mobile units. I remember when the banks used to bring mobile branches to little villages. Could that be considered? The issue that would probably arise in such circumstances would be the availability of broadband services in such communities. This issue was discussed earlier in the meeting. Given what is happening, the roll-out of broadband to rural areas needs to be fast-tracked. Broadband can be used for other services.

I suggest that consideration should be given to freezing these closures to allow the post offices that have been identified for closure to be reassessed. I am aware that an appeals process has been announced. It has been mentioned that all of this is based on footfall. There could be a footfall of 10,000 people outside a post office, but they could all be going across to the next community to use another post office. The calculation of usage is a big thing. People need to vote with their feet.

I welcome the reversal of a decision that was taken regarding Kilworth in north Cork. It lost its post office under the previous Government. I do not think it has seen much of an increase in population since then. Maybe it was through confidence and supply that we got the post office back up and running. I ask Mr. McRedmond to send me details of this welcome news for Kilworth. The people of the village fought tooth and nail to try to keep the post office open some years ago.

I thank the Chairman for giving me this time. I know it has been a long day for most of us. However, the appeals process should be reviewed. Usage is how we can show whether a post office is able to work.

I would like to ask a final question. There is a perception that a post office must be open from morning until evening. Does each post office need to observe the full opening hours? Can a deal be done to allow a post office to open for just a couple of hours each day, or a couple of days each week? If services have to be reduced, they should be retained for a few days of the week at least.