Mr. Pat Watt:

Our view is that it needs to be dispersed in an equitable way that will impact, in particular, those who most need it. It needs to be biased, therefore, and the model needs to be built towards those who most need it. They comprise those not just at the bottom end of the network but also in the middle. A mixture of rural and urban post offices are under pressure. We have had one engagement with the Irish Postmasters Union, IPU, about this and we have also engaged with the Department regarding the philosophy and the ideology of how this would be distributed. We will have a session in the second week of July at which we will bring to the table our respective positions on the design of that dispersal, so it has not yet been agreed.

Nevertheless, as I said earlier, we are seeking to balance between certainty, as in a fixed element that will provide certainty and comfort for those who most need it, and a commercial element that will ensure we do not lose our commercial focus. One of the risks with funding is that we will lose our commercial focus, and we need to maintain that, so the variable element will be important. I expect that as we move towards the more profitable end of the network, it will be more variable than fixed, whereas at the bottom of end of the network, it will be more fixed.

They are the broad brushstrokes but we have not yet designed it nor agreed a design with the Department or the IPU.