Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

An Post has had a long relationship with AIB in providing some over-the-counter services and it now has a partnership with Bank of Ireland. Reiterating what I said to Deputy Crowe earlier, a good example of what An Post has done is its work with Scottish and Southern Energy, SSE, Airtricity. The advertisements can be seen on television for the wraparound service to improve homes. The lending facility and energy expertise is provided and An Post puts all the elements together as a product. That is the sort of product in which I think An Post potentially has real expertise. It is also the sort of product which would easily merge into community banking or, as I mentioned earlier, the Sparkassen model. The provision of loans to the value of €10,000 to €50,000, and upwards when it comes to the commercial sector, is where we could have real expertise.

Regarding cross-Border planning issues, I have had several meetings with Minister Mallon and we have discussed at length the Narrow Water bridge project. As soon as it is possible to travel, we want to commit to visiting Carlingford. There are different views of and options for this project. One option is a foot and cycling bridge. The area around Carlingford and the Mourne mountains is stunning for that type of tourism and I think it has great potential. Car traffic may also be a factor because of the major motorway bypass going in on the eastern side of Newry. The existing road from Omeath to Newry is a country road which is not very wide, so if we approached this project in respect of it involving a major car road there could be implications then regarding upgrading the entire road network around the Carlingford peninsula. I do not know if that is what we want in the long run. Instead, there may be real potential here for us to do something which is iconic, spectacular and sustainable.