Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This is similar to how we are funding broadband which I know is also part of the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications.

To touch on the wider network of An Post, where does the Minister of State, An Post or the Department see the network in three, five or ten years' time? I expect and anticipate that with broadband and as more of the population becomes digitally native, or grow up in this area, that we will have fewer people who are less comfortable with it. Many people became more comfortable than they had been before the Covid-19 pandemic out of necessity. As we get more and more broadband, there will be more people applying for services through this medium. We know over the past week or so about passport applications virtually going fully online or perhaps that being the direction of travel.

Certain services that were used in the post office a great deal will be used less. There is more mail being delivered through emails as opposed to by An Post. That does not affect the postmasters as such because that is more the commercially generated items and An Post would be more concerned with the delivery end of these services. There are about 880 post offices, plus about 50 company-owned post offices, giving a total of 930. Does the Minister of State believe that in ten years' time we will still have 930 post offices or does she anticipate that there will be a natural progression towards consolidation from where we are now?