Mr. Ned O'Hara:

We have no view on that. It is a policy decision for either the Government, the Department or An Post. The protocol was brought in by An Post in 2018 and before that there was no protocol. Before that, post offices closed as postmasters retired whether or not the service was required. At least now there is some structure in that regard. The current protocol is that there should be a post office for every population centre of 500 people or one for every 3 km radius in an urban area or 15 km in a rural area. The union has no view on that protocol. We recognise that there cannot be a post office for everyone in the audience. Is 500 a good number? I have no view on that. There is a census this year and it may lead to a review of the protocol. I presume that number will go up.

We know there are 750 post offices and if their postmaster retires, they will stay open. There are approximately 130 or 150 other post offices and if their postmaster retires, it would not be advertised. We are not involved with that protocol. We have no view on the size, for example. We see it as either Government or An Post policy. We welcome the structure it gives because before it the process was totally unstructured.