Ms Debbie Byrne:

As we said earlier the traditional post office is declining because of factors such as social welfare payments, BillPay and other traditional services. Our current focus is driving growth in new products and services. That comes under three pillars. We have had major success in financial services over the past year. We have launched credit cards and loans. Our current account figures are up 20% year on year and One Direct, our insurance business based in Athlone as part of the retail division, is experiencing good growth year on year for car, motor and travel insurance. That is all going to plan and we are currently signing two or three new contracts, which are going through a legal process, for new financial services products that will be launched in the spring, SME lending being one of the products.

The second pillar we have spoken about is Government services and we need to keep going on that. We have engaged extensively and we have given a commitment to the committee that we will come back and outline everything we have done over the past year. We did that in conjunction with various partners and we will outline that. It has been extensive.

The third pillar is e-commerce. Part of the strategy for the network is to co-locate it, which means post offices will have extended opening hours. That is part of the deal we did with the postmasters last year. It was ridiculous that post offices were closed at lunchtime in key urban areas. That may have been less important in deep rural areas. Our move towards co-location means that post offices if they are co-located with a convenience grocery retailer will have extended opening hours, which makes it easier for consumers in commuter towns who are not at home to pick up a parcel. In certain categories, such as fashion, for example, 40% of what is purchased is returned. We want people to be able to bring that return to their post office and they can do that five days a week and on a Saturday morning. The opening hours have been extended to match those of the shop. That e-commerce enablement is important and we want to be that out-of-home provider. That helps small businesses as well. We work with some postmasters to drive and service what we call the eBay, low-end SME market sellers who bring in their parcels. We have a new scheme called Advantage card, which gives them a discount for shipping their parcels. There is a big focus on SMEs and consumers.