James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses who have come to speak about some of the issues facing An Post. I want to follow on from some of the comments made by Senator Buttimer and thank the people working in post offices around the country over the past 12 months. It has been a difficult period for people, especially in rural communities. The local post office is an outlet for many people socially as well as for its services, and I commend the people working in them.

I want to focus on one area of interest to me and would like feedback from Mr. O'Hara if he is willing. Bank of Ireland will close a significant part of its national branch network. AIB has confirmed that it is undergoing major restructuring. We have seen in recent times the announcement that Ulster Bank will pull out of the market. This will significantly change banking in rural Ireland and people's ability to make transactions with cash. What we saw come from Bank of Ireland was a particular focus on An Post and the ability of An Post to step in here and provide additional services. Bank branches will close in places such as Cobh, Youghal and Mitchelstown in my constituency. If Mr. O'Hara would be interested in providing insight, what has he heard in feedback both nationally and locally from post offices about how they will be able to fill in for Bank of Ireland and possibly AIB in many communities if this restructuring is fully implemented over the next two years? It looks like there will be quite a significant change to how people interact with banking services.