Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is a very strong advocate for the post office network and the impact it has on local communities. He is certainly right. The three-year agreement that is coming to a conclusion at the end of this year has been really important to maintaining the post office network. The Government is absolutely committed to ensuring that remains the case. This is going to require continued support by the Government. The programme for Government outlines our continued commitment to that. The Minister and I are very committed with the engagement we are having with the Department of public expenditure at the moment, and with our own team here, to making sure we have that renewed by the end of the year. Our team is assessing as well. Proposals have been put forward by the IPU, but the renewal of the agreement will be subject to the budgetary process, our engagement with the Department of public expenditure in finalising that, in assessing the services that will be provided in return, which we know is a very strong post office network. We are totally committed to having it renewed. The objective and the finalisation of it will be subject to the budgetary negotiations around budget time.

On the LSSIF, as I said earlier, we had two funding rounds in 2019 and 2024. It is certainly our objective to get to the point where we have a new round in a much shorter period than that. Again, this will be subject to the national development plan and the capital allocation we get within that. We certainly want to see a new round run. Some organisations did not apply but would like to be considered. Deputy Byrne mentioned that many had applied and want to be in a position to be considered again. It is something we hope to do another round of and in a much shorter timeframe but again it will be subject to the budgetary allocation we get.