Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)

In recent weeks I have received reports from throughout the country of people who have been experiencing the non-delivery of mail for days and sometimes weeks on end. This lack of a proper postal service has been particularly bad in my constituency of Dublin North-East and in neighbouring constituencies in the estates of the Donahies and Clare Hall in particular. I have also received similar reports from throughout the country, including from Clare and Limerick. In one instance in my area, some residents were left without a postal delivery for more than a week and when they queried this, they were told to go down to the local sorting office and collect the post themselves. Another person was awaiting a P60 which was subsequently mislaid and this individual was also told to go to the local sorting office and retrieve the document.

On contacting An Post senior management about this unsatisfactory situation, I was told the reason for such lapses in mail delivery is that postal workers who are legitimately absent from work due to illness or annual holidays are not being replaced while out of work and in those instances post was simply not being delivered. I was also told that the long-standing embargo on the recruitment of temporary staff, which An Post has implemented over recent years, is continuing.

This is an astonishing and unacceptable state of affairs. An Post is mandated with a universal postal service obligation that guarantees every home and premises in the State with at least one delivery every weekday. That its senior management has placed a moratorium on temporary and holiday staff is insufficient reason for not fulfilling the universal postal obligation.

I raised this issue last week at a meeting of the Joint Committee on Communications, Marine and Natural Resources. It is a practice that An Post management cannot be allowed to continue. The universal postal service obligation is a cherished right of every citizen and must be discharged by the company. It is true that there have been difficult times in An Post, especially in 2002 and 2003. However, its annual report last year reported a profit of more than €7 million. The sale of major UK subsidiaries has realised something in the region of €85 million and there is also the projected sale of the SDS premises on the Naas Road. I understand that SDS is closing tomorrow, which is extremely regrettable and, I believe, unnecessary.

Much of the turnaround of An Post's fortunes has been achieved by the sacrifices of its workforce which has not had a pay rise for the last two and a half years, unlike the Members and staff of the Oireachtas who received the increases due under Sustaining Progress. I am informed that a 5% increase is due this week, backdated from the beginning of this year, but this does not go anywhere towards relieving the real suffering of An Post workers. The most disgraceful aspect of all is the treatment of An Post pensioners. It is a continuing disgrace that the 8,000 former workers and their families who have given decades of service to the country have not received any increases over the past two and a half years. Many of them, under the Postal and Telecommunications Services Act 1983, are former civil servants. The Government is in an illegal position in not ensuring they receive it.

It is a continuing disgrace that many postmasters throughout the country do not have a minimum wage nor do they receive support to computerise the 400 offices that need to be updated urgently. There is a range of issues which the Minister, Deputy Noel Dempsey, must address with An Post management to try to get the national postal service back to the standard we knew and loved for many years and to try to bring about a positive workforce. Many of the ideas that need to be implemented are included in the excellent document, An Post: A New Vision, recently published by An Post's group of unions.

There is need for a new direction for the company. It should be undertaken in partnership with staff and management and led by the Minister. It should not be one where all the sacrifices are made by the postal workers, past and present, and more recently by householders and businesses that do not have their universal postal service. The Minister should give a lead on this, urgently. It is a matter I have raised many times in the House this session. He should give a lead to ensure we return to the type of postal services we always enjoyed, with a happy workforce and group of pensioners and with strong support for the local post office network.

See this speech in context