Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Ms Byrne and Mr. Watt. I will start with the positives and then I might move to some constructive criticism. I thank them for everything they did during Covid. An Post was everywhere when much of society was not circulating. It was brilliant. I only found out the other day that PPE was being brought to home carers. An Post had a partnership with Home Care Ireland that involved the company delivering PPE, including gloves and masks, free of charge to people who could not leave their homes to get it. This was a small thing but, cumulatively, it was massive. I thank An Post for that.

I will now move to constructive criticism. We sat here about a week and a half ago and met with the IPU and Tom O'Callaghan from the Independent Postmasters Group. We have been carrying out a body of work on this. The Government has given €10 million to support - not save - the network and give it some sustainability. Is that not incongruent with An Post's rationalising? An Post has a plan to streamline the network. Rationalisation and streamlining mean closures. Are the two aims not incongruent?