Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 12 March 2014

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications

Sustainability of Post Office Network: An Post

10:50 am

Mr. Liam Sheehan:

From the point of view of other banks and businesses, I am subject to non-disclosure agreements on a number of conversations. I would prefer not to comment on what was in the press last week but we are in discussions with a number of banks about offering services to them. Our current arrangement with AIB is seen as very successful. Transaction levels for AIB grew by approximately 15% last year and that is a mature contract, so there is a significant opportunity there. We have just been notified that we are going into contract discussions with Irish Water for bill payment. There is a strong pipeline of new products and contracts that will come to fruition in the next 12 months. Unfortunately, the type of publicity that has been around about the network closing does not necessarily help the conversations with multinational companies. It is important we portray the network for what it is, a strong, viable network that touches virtually every community in the country.