Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman very much. in fairness, I do not think I will need all of the time. I thank the Irish Postmasters Union for being here. It has appeared before this committee and its predecessor on many occasions. I compliment the witnesses again today on the very straightforward presentation they provided us with. I do not think they are asking for anything other than what they are entitled to and to which the State is entitled.

The post office network provides a hugely valuable service. There is no doubt that over recent years, the demand for the services has reduced and that will continue over time in the way in which people are living their lives. They are transacting much more online. Notwithstanding that, a very considerable cohort of people out there use the services that are currently available. The postmasters have rightly identified on many occasions that it would be wrong to deprive those people of that service. They have challenged us now and in the past, particularly Government, to identify a suite of services that could be delivered through their offices and unfortunately, that has not been forthcoming. If that was in place, it would make their service more viable on the basis that they are contracted on a per-click basis, if you want, or a transactional basis, and they have done really well at that.

First, I want to express my continued and ongoing support. In a previous role, I prepared a paper on this particular matter in which we looked at the idea of having a public service obligation on the post office. That has not materialised, unfortunately, but if we even pull back from what the actual solution is or what the particulars of it might be, the overarching requirement in my view is to provide a stream of funding to An Post to contract with it to provide services, whatever those services might ultimately be.

From my perspective on the committee, I fully support that approach. I would hope that the committee will be able to take a decision at the end of this hearing. I propose in a formal way that the committee endorses the witnesses' recommendations today and that we send a strong message from this committee to the Government that we want to see an amount of money. I estimated it in the past, and there will have been inflation and all of that, which the witnesses will know about and with which we are all coming to terms, somewhere between €10 million and €12 million as the amount of money that would be required to address the deficit, if you want, or moneys that would be needed to ensure that no further offices close.

In my constituency and others, we have seen smaller offices close, which is regrettable. I know there is not a capacity to turn those back but we want to protect and preserve what we have. If we are serious as politicians, then we should be prepared to recommend to Government that an amount of money yet to be determined, which in my view is somewhere between €10 million and €12 million, should be made available to An Post with the very strict instructions that the money goes towards the preservation and protection of the existing network. In parallel with that, let us all work to try to ensure there is a greater suite of services in a changing society that would make some of the offices viable.

I will go back to a point I have often made before, however. We should not be just talking about the viability of a service provider. Nobody looks at a road and asks whether it is viable. To me, the post office is as important in a village as the road that gets a person to the village. In many cases, it is the harp over the door. It is the only element that says the State still values this village. I can tell you as a rural representative traversing the county, as I do every week, that as a State and as an institution, Government and Parliament, we were damn glad of those villages when people could not travel any more than 2 km from their homes during the pandemic. It was the post offices and small shops that kept the whole show on the road during that time when those of us who travel around more and go to centres to do shopping were not able to do so. Thankfully, the post office and the shop were there. The witnesses know better than I that when the post office goes, it is not long before the shop goes as well. It starts a rot, unfortunately, on which we have to turn the tide. On the positive side, if there is any positive to come out of the pandemic, it is the fact that people now see an opportunity to work from home and live in rural areas and villages again.

Thankfully, the post offices have stayed the distance. I hope we can start with the roll-out of broadband, which is now at an advanced stage, so that more and more people will be able to live in villages and their surrounding areas in rural Ireland. Therefore, it is vital that we retain that key piece of connectivity. The presentation has been on the money. I do not need further explanation, and I expect that will be the case with most people. I have little further to say other than I am committed to that. I hope we can take a unanimous approach. I propose that we send a message from this committee to endorse everything the postmasters are doing. We want the Government to provide a stream of money, between €10 million and €12 million - but it can be determined - to support what they do. We will also ask that the work on what further services they can provide is expedited.