Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I get all that. It is very important that people who do not have credit facilities or credit or debit cards are included but there may be another way. When I was on Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, we had to have a cash office for paying rent and we said we would just move it to the post office. The post office got business out of doing it and we had a cash office that was not taking very much. Equally, the staff were redeployed elsewhere and we were not paying Group 4 or whoever it was €180, I think it was at the time, to take away maybe €30, which made no sense for anybody. There are ways of doing it that encompass cash that do not mean you have to have cash on site. It is very important that people who want to be able to pay in cash can pay in cash in whatever way they have to do it, whether that is buying a voucher in the post office or something along those lines. I get the prepay thing.

I thank the witnesses. The frustration here on behalf of people is genuine. We appreciate how much the witnesses are doing and the journey they are all on. I know the management of such large numbers is difficult and we thank them for all they are doing. The better the figures get, the less often they will be in here so maybe that will be an incentive in itself to improve, not that they necessarily need one. I thank them very much for being here today.