Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister may or may not know Tom O'Callaghan, a constituent of mine from County Clare who leads an organisation called the Independent Postmasters Group. Over the years, he has come to the Oireachtas a number of times to present and outline the challenges faced by the post office sector, particularly rural post offices facing closure. He and others have come forward with a range of solutions up to and including adopting a model akin to the Kiwi post banking system that operates in New Zealand. An independent report has been produced by Grant Thornton and motions were passed in the previous Dáil in regard to supporting post offices. I would like to hear from the Minister if there are plans to implement any of those proposals and how he proposes to save rural post offices from closure. As he will appreciate, beyond the pub, shop, school and post office, there is little else going on in most rural villages. The post office is a key service. A recent Red C poll backs up the position that people want and demand a rural post office network. I would welcome a response from the Minister in regard to how he proposes to take on and support some of the initiatives brought forward by Tom O'Callaghan and others who have been campaigning to save post offices.