Mr. David McRedmond:

I will ask Ms Byrne to comment on that in a moment. The Senator mentioned the financial performance of An Post and it has been strong. Over the past four years, we have moved from losses to increased profit each year, and this level of profitability will maintain the long-term viability of the network. It is not super-profit.

We consciously and deliberately took a hit last year. We calculated that Covid-19 would cost us €50 million and we have outlined in some detail what that is. We said that would happen. It is why in 2020 we made a loss after depreciation. We made a profit before depreciation and if An Post was a private sector company, it would have earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, EBITDA. It is analogous.

Like many companies we make most of our money in the final quarter of the year because of Christmas trading. We are forecasting a profit this year before and after depreciation. We will still have the pandemic for half this year, which means we will not be quite back to the levels of profitability that we had beforehand but we fully expect to be there in 2022. We are robust in our performance and delivering those numbers. I will argue that strongly.

The Senator mentioned our products and how An Post is doing. There is no doubt that every company must find a new revenue stream. The key for us is whether the company is growing or declining. The truth is we are growing. The post office did not grow last year for many reasons outlined that relate to Covid-19. Even still, as a company we managed to grow our revenues by 3%.

As the committee saw, in the first quarter of this year we grew them by 11%. That growth is all the sign of the future viability, strength and success of An Post. I am clear that An Post is moving in a strong, positive direction. As I said in my opening comments, I am also confident that the post office network is, but it will take longer to get there.

Ms Byrne might be able to answer also on the demographics around the post office network.