Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Last July, the Government promised a strategy that would tackle the realm of offline services and people are still waiting. Postmasters have said that the funding is good and welcome it but funding alone will not save the network and a whole range of offline services are needed. My dad does not use a laptop or a smartphone but he is one of those people who drives to his local post office on a Thursday to collect his pension. Let us be ageist. The Minister of State and I are of a similar age and I probably only go to a post office to buy stamps or post a parcel. We need to find a way to get way more people in through the doors of post offices and not just people who are drawing down pension or social welfare payments or people who post a parcel once or twice a year. We need to see an awful lot more offline services available in post offices too. The postmasters have made some suggestions to the Minister of State and they made some suggestions to me when I met them in County Clare last night. The payment of college fees is possible through bank and student services but that is not possible yet through post offices. Now, when a woman in paid employment goes on maternity leave her maternity payment goes through the bank only but the children's allowance can be paid through banks or a post office. That is another situation that could be changed by ministerial order.

The passport issue has become a debacle. It was insulting to the post office network that the Passport Express service was renamed last week. A pay per passport was always something good. The application was always something good and rapid but it is not like that anymore. The postmasters have said that they have undertaken a huge amount of anti-money laundering work for the last number of years without being compensated. What more can be done? A sum of €10 million is good but it does not bring them up to the full sustainable level of €60 million per annum and postmasters will need a lot more. I ask the Minister of State to tell us more about the offline strategy.