Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. O'Hara and Mr. O'Callaghan for their presentations, which outlined clearly the current state of affairs and the cusp on which the post office network finds itself. When anybody thinks of the fabric of communities and what makes them up in terms of infrastructure and institutions, the post office is high on the list and is certainly near the top. I previously served as a member of a local authority. In my constituency, three local post offices closed in the most recent round of closures. It would be really worth getting Grant Thornton or somebody else to do a longitudinal study to look at the impact of post office closures on communities and the social fabric, as well as on local businesses. In my experience, the impact is quite profound and has a considerable knock-on effects, not just in terms of the economy but also in the context of other State and community infrastructure.

The Grant Thornton report refers to unrestrained closures. In a worst-case scenario, what does this mean? The transition payment is due to be up at the end of June. If no alternative, PSO or continuation of the transition payment is put in place, how many post office closures could we realistically be talking about?