Mr. Justin Moran:

I thank the committee for the opportunity to address it. As stated in the Kerr report, the post office is an essential service for facilitating communication and interaction in local communities. It is especially important for older people who use the post office to collect pensions, get cash, pay utility bills and, perhaps most importantly, meet their friends. One Age Action member described the local post office as the most sociable place in town.

The closure of post offices in rural communities forces older people to rely on a transport system that is not fit for purpose, or on the kindness of friends and family members, to get the next town. In this context, we warmly welcome the additional funding announced by the Minister last week and his statement to the Dáil that the Government is fully committed to a sustainable post office network. However, echoing Mr. O'Hara's point, we have seen no further detail on how this money will be used. Are closed post offices, such as those in Sandymount in Dublin or Cleggan in Galway, to be reopened? Are post offices threatened with closure now safe or, as has been suggested, are these funds to be used to create a redundancy fund to pension off postmasters? Put simply, how will communities throughout the country, particularly in rural Ireland, benefit from this additional €30 million? In practical terms, what will change for them?

Another matter on which we would welcome more detail is the digital assist pilot initiative, which envisages the post offices as a digital gateway. Recent CSO figures show almost half of Irish people aged over 60 have never used the Internet in any circumstance. We know this proportion is even higher among people in their 70s and 80s. This is a disturbing statistic in an increasingly online society and evidence of a rapidly emerging digital divide. I acknowledge and welcome the funding received from the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment for Age Action's programme to train older people to get online. How will digital assist work for those older people and others unfamiliar with online services? Who will teach them how to use the computers? Who will ensure they do so in a secure manner? It may be helpful for the Department and An Post to explore how this pilot programme could be supported by organisations such as Age Action providing computer training to older people.

I welcome the roll-out of the smart current account by An Post. We would be delighted to see additional new financial services and the expansion of State services outlined by Mr. McRedmond in our post offices. In recent years, we have noticed a large increase in the number of complaints from older people frustrated by banks closing branches, reducing services and avoiding dealing with customers in person. Many have expressed frustration at being unable to take their business to their post office, and I urge everyone involved to expand more quickly the services available in our post offices.

In preparing for today's meeting, I came across a debate between the Minister and an Opposition spokesperson about allowing people to pay their motor tax in their local post office. The debate took place in 1987 and concluded with the Minister announcing that a working group was to be established to look at the matter. It is 30 years later and the same suggestion is still being made, and it was as valid then as it is now. I welcome the efforts by the Minister, the Department, An Post and the Irish Postmasters Union to work collectively to save our post office network, but I urge all to move more quickly to preserve this priceless national asset on which so many older people rely.