Ms Carol Bolger:

Key to that will be community banking, e-commerce and government services. We are committed to investing in the national post office network while also investing heavily in enabling customers to do their business with us at a time, place and method of their choice. We are constantly developing a new omnichannel capability that combines the latest digital technology with our unique human touch and our extensive post office network.

The decline of core business lines such as social welfare transactions, BillPay and mail services has meant that we have had to reinvent the role of the post office and come up with new services to meet the changing needs of customers. An example of this is our green hub, which supports the national sustainability drive in helping homeowners to live a greener, more sustainable life. We have a one-stop home retrofitting service and green loans with a 4.9% interest rate, the lowest rate of any provider in the country.

It would be remiss of me to appear before this committee and not make reference to the availability of government services through our post offices and our desire to do more. We are a point of contact between Irish citizens and Government. We want to work with Government to expand the range of services we offer. That, too, will continue to be a key element of our strategy in the years to come and a key demand of ours to Government.

My particular areas of interest are in governance and in the pursuit of good governance, openness and transparency. This has been a feature of the work of the board of An Post and that will continue. I am now engaged in a process to appoint three new members to the board as we deepen our skills and experience to meet the challenges ahead.

I am excited to chair a company that has set a number of firsts in recent years, including becoming the first major institution in Ireland to eliminate the gender pay gap and to remove carbon emissions from our cities. That ambition and innovation will continue to be the hallmarks of An Post in the years to come. Both will be central to our efforts to deal with the challenges we face in building a company that is fit for the needs of the developing Ireland helping the national recovery. Our purpose is, and will continue to be, to act for the common good, now and for generations to come.

I thank committee members for their time and I am happy to take their questions.