Mr. David McRedmond:

Ms Byrne is correct in her description of what has happened. It is the description of what has not happened which is concerning. Every effort has been made by her and the team in An Post to get a framework in place for Government services. There was supposed to be a memo to Cabinet and then to a sub-committee. It has been quite dispiriting. I still see post offices as having harps above their doors. We are a Government office. There are 950 Government offices throughout the country and the Government is not using them. I can understand that tenders have to be issued for certain services and so on, but where there is a will there is a way. When committee members, as public representatives, face post office closures they should know we have done everything we committed to in terms of introducing new services.

Ms Byrne talked about introducing financial services. We could not do that any faster than we are currently, and we are gaining huge shares in some key areas. Government services have been a real disappointment and, as Ms Byrne said, we would appreciate the support of the Oireachtas in terms of political parties and manifestos stating that these Government offices are worthwhile and are great outlets in terms of providing opportunities to have Government present in every town and village across the country.