Mr. David McRedmond:

The short answer is "No". This sounds very harsh but there is a reason for it. Four years ago, we did a deal with the Irish Postmasters Union. We agreed a protocol. It took three months to negotiate. It was mediated by a senior counsel. It was a protocol for the future of the post office network. It set down criteria for this, and these are the criteria that Ms Byrne took the committee through, including the distances between post offices and that they serve communities of 500 or more. The reason we have to be so strict about this is because there are 931 post offices and 931 communities and we have to be fair. We have to break this dynamic. Members appreciate the pressure they themselves are under and what they want to do for their communities. As soon as we reopen one post office we will have to go through all of the cases.

We will have to go through, not just the ten that Ms Byrne talked about but the 192 that have closed since July 2018. We would have to go through each of them and answer for each of them so we have to stick by that criteria. That was a solemn agreement with postmasters which was registered through mediation. That is why we have to do it, to make sure we have a functioning network.