Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses today. In particular, I compliment Mr. Martin, because he has rallied the postmasters to contact each and every Deputy. They came to all of our offices, sat down and laid out their cases. They actually looked to take a photograph afterwards. Normally it is the job of the politician to make sure that the photograph is taken, but the postmasters did that. We all support this. There is no doubt about that and that can be heard here. In the conversations that I had with those postmasters, they outlined the point that Mr. O’Hara also raised about the social value that they bring. I note that the report puts that social value at €344 million. That is sometimes hard to quantify. It is sometimes hard to put a finger on what the social value is.

I raise a question in the context of the figure of €12 million. The figure had been €17 million, and it went to €12 million.

Is that figure of €12 million based on services that post offices have now started providing or is it based on all the other services they could provide, which would mean the Government support would be reduced by that figure of €5 million?