Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Banks get a kickback on everything they do. I appreciate what Grant Thornton did and the macro view from a purely commercial point of view, but there is a side to the post office that is not commercial and cannot be quantified. I do not know how we can square that circle, and there is no answer the witnesses can give me today. I have listened to their answers and everything else. Mr. O'Hara has been very clear there things that cannot be quantified, yet Mrs. Murphy knows that next Thursday she can go to the local post office and, when she walks in there, she will get the same welcome as she has always got, and if she has something she needs to be sorted out, the staff will always find a quiet corner in which they can talk to her and solve the problem. That situation is worth a damn sight more than €12 million to the economy as far as I am concerned.

I will not waste the time of these men by asking questions that have already been asked. I appreciate their time and envy the commitment from their members. It is tremendous. They are some guys because they rarely ever leave a month go by without making some contact. Well done and congratulations.