Mr. William Parnell:

I thank the Chair. I welcome the opportunity to address the committee as it considers matters related to the post office network. The interest of the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs in the post office network is in the service that post offices provide throughout the country and particularly in rural Ireland where they often serve as a hub for social and economic activity above and beyond the delivery of core postal services.

The Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs has no statutory function in relation to An Post and has no role or responsibility with regard to service delivery at individual post offices. Overall, policy responsibility for the postal sector falls within the remit of the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment, as Ms Cronin has already said. While operational matters and commercial decisions relating to individual post offices are a matter for the management and board of An Post, nonetheless the post office network plays an important role in both urban and rural communities and has been a central part of the fabric of rural towns and villages for generations.

The future of the post office network is therefore of great interest to my Department in the context of its rural affairs remit. The Department is currently preparing an action plan for rural development which will act as an overarching structure for the co-ordination and implementation of initiatives across Government for the benefit of rural Ireland. The plan will contain a number of time-bound actions designed to improve the social and economic fabric of rural communities. The plan will be published in the coming weeks. However, the Department has already introduced a number of practical measures to support rural communities, including through the roll out of initiatives such as the town and village renewal scheme, the development of the rural economic zones initiative and the reintroduction of the CLÁR programme last year.

One of the objectives of the forthcoming action plan for rural development will be to maintain and enhance services in rural communities. As I have indicated, the post office network provides a very important role in rural communities by serving the needs of personal and business customers and often acting as a locus for other community engagement. As we have already heard, however, the postal sector is undergoing systemic change with migration towards electronic communications resulting in a decline in mail volumes year on year. Changes in the way people access services have also led to a decline in footfall in the post office network. Nonetheless, in accordance with commitments in the programme for a partnership Government, the Department has been working to find solutions to ensure, as far as is possible, the sustainability of the post office network into the future. The Post Office Network Business Development Group, chaired by Mr. Kerr, was established in late 2014 to examine the potential for additional Government business, as well as commercial business to be transacted through the post office network. The final report of the group was published in January last year and made a number of recommendations to support the future sustainability of the post office network. On foot of this report two working groups were established to progress the recommendations arising from the report of the business development group. These were the post office network renewal implementation group, chaired by Mr. Kerr and the post office hub working group chaired by the Minister of State at the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Michael Ring.

The role of the post office hub working group was to identify potential models under which post offices could act as community hubs, especially in rural areas. The membership of this working group included An Post, the Irish Postmasters Union and rural representatives, as well as the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. The working group has now completed its work and final drafting changes are currently being made to the group's final report, which the Minister of State, Deputy Ring, will make available to the Government as soon as possible. The group has identified a number of potential options under which the post office network could act as a hub for broader activities, depending on different circumstances. It is fair to say that the most flexible model would see local post offices act as multi-purpose spaces for the community. This approach has proven successful in other jurisdictions. The working group has recommended the establishment of a small number of pilots to test the various models as soon as possible and as circumstances dictate. This is, however, only one part of a wider picture, which other contributors will speak to today. My Department has also been examining the potential for the post office network to deliver other services such as the renewal of motor tax. A number of delivery options for this services have been identified and proposals are currently being finalised in consultation with the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government. One of the key recommendations emerging from the report of the post office business development group was that An Post should introduce a basic bank account as one means of increasing customer footfall. I note that An Post announced its intention to launch a new payment account in the first quarter of this year when its representatives spoke at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs on 9 November 2016. This is a significant development and one which I hope will encourage and attract new customers to An Post.

On a somewhat related matter, the programme for a partnership Government envisages that An Post, the Irish League of Credit Unions and other interested stakeholders will be asked to investigate and propose a new model of community banking such as the Kiwibank model in New Zealand or the German Sparkassen model, which could be delivered through the post office network. My Department has held an initial meeting with the Department of Finance on this matter and we have agreed to develop a work plan to examine these various models. Officials will meet again in the coming weeks and we hope to be in a position to conclude this piece of work around the middle of this year.

These are all elements of an effort to support the post office network and to help it adapt to an ever-changing operating environment. I am sure further elements of the wider picture will be outlined by other speakers today. In conclusion I thank the committee members for their attention and am happy to answer any questions the committee may have with regard to my Department's role in this area.