Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief. I sincerely thank the Minister of State for what she has achieved. In 2016, when I was the Opposition spokesperson on this issue, I and others, through engagement with the Irish Postmasters Union, An Post and others, produced a paper which circulated as Fianna Fáil policy. It spoke about the provision of a public service obligation. The genesis of that was a methodology for providing funding to post offices that were not viable, with the intent of ensuring they would remain open to provide a service that was needed but which was not viable because not enough people were using it. People had moved to digital platforms and that is continuing. The paper recognised that people in a certain age cohort were never going to change and go onto the digital platform and stated a belief that they were still entitled to that service regardless of whether others had adopted a digital platform. There was certain resistance in the Government at the time. I am pleased today to see the culmination of that work and the Minister of State's input into it along the way. I am very thankful to her and her departmental officials for seeing the merit of it.

There is no doubt that this is a battle that was hard won, and I have no doubt that the Minister of State encountered resistance in different quarters. During that time, I and others have continued to engage with various Departments and particularly the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, which took some convincing. I am pleased that has happened. The Minister was certainly on board at an early stage. With a push from the Minister of State she has succeeded in getting officials to a point of understanding the benefit that a post office means for rural Ireland. It is actually greater than just the service that it provides or the number of people to whom it provides it. I have used the phrase previously, but the harp over the door of the post office has a significance. It says to other businesses and people who live in the community that the State still has a value in this gathering, collective or community.

I could quibble over the €10 million or €12 million, but that would undermine the massive achievement that has been made. Next year, when the Minister of State returns to the committee, and I hope she is still in office, we can argue the toss about whether it is €11 million, €12 million, €13 million or €14 million, but I do not want to take from what she has achieved. Knowing the resistance that would have existed within the bowels of the greater government, the Minister of State has achieved an amazing amount. I talk regularly to Mr. Ned O'Hara. I have great respect for him and his team in the IPU, who really value and recognise what has been achieved here. Mr. O'Hara has been a pioneer. There have been detractors who have gone their own way. They have not amounted to much. There are people who seek to undermine the work of the IPU. I believe that is wrong and negative in the extreme.

There are issues around services that need to be addressed. We will look at that in another piece of work. People are throwing in ideas, and I have heard for years about Sparkassen banks and community banks. There is a failure to recognise the work of the credit union movement. In Germany, there are various banking systems. It is entirely different. It has community banks, but we do not have community banks. That is not the solution in the short term. If we go to a community banking model, how long will that take? It will take a lifetime. What we want is a recognition that the State values post offices, and it is always the case that if one values something, one must be prepared to pay for it. The Minister of State has achieved that, and well done to her.

I have ongoing engagement with postmasters. Again, I do not want to quibble about the details, but I will make a point. An Post has done very well under David McRedmond, who has a phenomenal team around him. He has shown great leadership and a great vision. He has turned the company around. I recall when I was in that role in 2016, and the Minister of State and I have discussed this, that the then Minister, Deputy Naughten, called me at midnight one night to tell me he was taking a memorandum to the Cabinet the next day that was going to increase the price of a stamp to €1, such was the perilous state of the finances of An Post. That is only a few years ago and that has changed because of the work of David McRedmond and his team. The only suggestion I have for this is that the €10 million be spread among the postmasters rather than the post offices that fall within the ownership of the company. They will be well able to manage the viability issue or lack of viability if such exists. I appeal to the Minister of State that in the disbursal of that €10 million she limit it to those post offices that are on contract to postmasters. That may help to resolve the €2 million gap between where the IPU is and where the Minister of State is. I do not expect a direct response on this, nor am I posing it for such.

I acknowledge the work Ms Jenny O'Hora does. What she does is well known and recognised. It is a huge achievement for her, the Minister of State and the Department to have moved the dial so much in what is being done, because the State does not take decisions like this lightly. There are others who will wish to move on and talk about other aspects of it. I just wish to reflect on that and to thank them so much for what they have achieved.