Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the An Post officials. I want to return to one or two points. The level of cash An Post has at the moment as an institution is about €80 million. Am I correct? I had a look at the accounts and at the end of 2020 they showed about €80 million. The company has eaten into its cash reserve due to the €50 million cost of Covid. Can An Post operate a self-funding model? It received Government support on the transformation at the time of that. Am I correct that €20 million was made available? Can An Post exist without State support? That is my first question.

As committee members have said, we deal with the staff and postmasters of post offices on a daily basis. In addition to Mr. McRedmond's staff who work in the An Post office, in Limerick we have the general post office on Cecil Street and a centre on the Dock Road. All the staff do phenomenal work and we acknowledge that. However, in terms of a viable model, can the company operate without State supports? What State services, in addition to those it currently provides and which are currently provided by other service providers, could the company provide? Lastly, if we are looking at the post office network, 18 months is not long enough. It is an interim measure as the company probably needs five years of a forward plan. What does Mr. McRedmond see if he looks at the post office network in five years' time. What is the model he will be looking at?