Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Mr. McRedmond talks about business plans, green light strategies and viability but there is a jigsaw element to this in terms of the 15 km rule that both witnesses have spoken about. Ireland is like a jigsaw and if one takes one piece out, it has an effect on the adjoining piece. That is what happened in Clare. One can talk about business viability and all of that but the reality in the Broadford case was that An Post had a contract and was willing to stay with it and keep it operational. However, a person became unwell and decided to retire from the position and An Post seized on the opportunity to close the branch permanently. There is something wrong in that. If one looks at the 15 km rule, if that misfortune had befallen another family in the neighbouring village, An Post would have closed that post office and then Broadford would have survived. There is a bit of cherry picking going on here because 15 km works in a radius format - close one and it saves the other or vice versa. That is totally unviable. I do not think anyone would enter the profession of postmaster or postmistress knowing that the network is subject to constant review and that if one closes, the other survives. It is a survival of the fittest model and is not a business model in the true sense. It is the survival of the fittest and if a postmaster or postmistress experiences personal misfortune or if, owing to age, he or she needs to retire, the opportunity is seized upon, that jigsaw piece is taken out and the neighbouring office survives.

Did An Post fund in part, or in full, the Grant Thornton report on the future viability of the post office network?