Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for being here. We have two sets of witnesses today that embody something that is rare in this country, which is trust. Mr. O'Hara referred to it in his opening statement. The people of Ireland trust our post office network and they have every reason to do so.

I am only a Deputy for two years, but I was on the staff here previously. I am still scratching my head as to why we are in this perennial position of crisis and being about to fall off a cliff and having to ask the Government for what is essentially a modest amount of money in the overall scheme of things to protect a service that is nationwide, massively trusted, and provides a plethora of vital services. In addition, the postmasters are not asking for money to stand still with the services they have or to prop up outdated and antiquated services, they are offering solutions to modern challenges and problems and saying not only will they continue to do the work they are doing, but offering services relating to passports, drivers' licences and daily banking. We have spoken at length about the problems we had with driving licence renewals and the very thin regional spread of the National Driver Licence Service, NDLS, centres, the fact they do not take cash and that they are closed, yet we have a network that is spread all over the country with people willing to do this service and with the expertise to do it, but the Government never seems to pick up the phone to ask them to do that.

I fully endorse and support what Senator Dooley asked. We should do that. I have one question. Why are we continually here? As a representative body, the IPU is asking for a modest amount of money for a service that is trusted. A post office is essentially a one-stop shop. We want that to be the case in each community. Why are we in a perennial crisis? Why do the witnesses think the issue has never been resolved? Why are post offices always left behind and the representatives have to continue to turn up at the committee year in, year out with the same asks?