Ms Debbie Byrne:

The strategy for the post office network last year was to look at the sustainability of the network and to repurpose and rejuvenate the network to create a viable income for postmasters. Our strategy there was consolidation around communities. Some 152 post offices closed last year and that business transferred to nearby post offices. Some 60% of the post offices that received the transferring business are seeing double digit growth and that is good because it means that the next tranche of 55 to 60 post offices are more viable and we are working closely with those post offices that might not have seen that business uplift. That is one aspect of the strategy. We appreciate that was a painful process for communities around the country but what we have done is to secure those next 160 post offices. The feedback from both postmasters and the Irish Postmasters' Union, IPU, is that it has been successful.

The other aspect of the strategy was to focus on developing new products and services and to put them through the network. A significant shift is going on in the business. The social welfare business, which is the largest part of our business, and some associated services, such as BillPay, etc., are all in decline at a rate of 5% to 6%. Those are big numbers. The growth in our business at the moment is coming from financial services and we are seeing some good growth come from that. The total post office network this year will see turnover growth of approximately 1%, but within that, there are huge shifts in business that is in decline as we build the new businesses out. We are working hard to stand still.

We have seen some great growth in our current account business with the number of accounts going up 20% year on year. The consumers only have to present themselves in the post office to do their anti-money laundering process. That is a benefit. We are getting a new younger consumer as we have re-launched our brand this year and advertised quite heavily on television so we are not just selling to the existing base. In March of this year, we launched credit cards and consumer lending in conjunction with Avantcard, which is based in Carrick-on-Shannon. Looking at Central Bank figures published every month for new credit cards issued, we estimate that we are getting between 20% and 25% market share. That is a big success for us and we are considering doing another burst of television advertising at the end of the year to capitalise on that.

Consumer lending got off to a slightly slower start but we recently got a new rate from Avantcard. We have the best rate in the market for lending under €10,000. That is where we see our sweet spot, at that lower lending threshold. We are advertising that rate at the moment. We have seen our loan business treble over the past two weeks. Postmasters are getting used to that and having new conversations with consumers. We feel very happy about that. We have also done some research. We are number one in the market for foreign exchange and, as the banks either close branches or do not want to deal with cash, we are filling that gap. We carried out an analysis recently with GeoDirectory. There are 510 post offices that do not have a bank within a 5 km radius. We are really filling the role of a community bank.

When we were here in July 2018 another group had been in before us and there was a lot of talk about Sparkassen and community banking. I think in that year, we have shown that we can be a credible force and can provide an alternative to the banks within the community. We need to build on Government services where we have had very little traction. I urge people present as they launch their party manifestos today to include this. We will try to make inroads in that and we are building out our e-commerce proposition. Much of the noise has been around consolidation but those of us in the GPO focus on the growth and the new products and services.