Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

Sadly, it is almost a year since Deputies discussed the issue of An Post in the House and on Molesworth Street. At that time, everybody agreed that the sad state of industrial relations was of deep concern to An Post workers. The increments to which my colleague, Deputy Broughan, referred were not paid on time during a period when, according to the economic experts on the Government side, the country was awash with money. For some unknown reason, An Post was able to plead inability to pay as a result of which its workers were not paid their entitlements. Worse still, An Post pensioners were given a commitment in legislation passed in 1982 that, notwithstanding the changes being introduced, they would continue to be treated as civil servants, only to find that once the company became a commercial entity, it decided it could not afford to pay them their entitlements.

The Minister's recent intervention, when he suggested he might bring forward competition legislation to speed up privatisation, was not helpful. He should have taken a more positive approach and used his influence, as I hope he is now doing, to bring about a resolution of the underlying issues which have caused the current problems in the company.

Everybody wants and is entitled to a good postal service and people should be able to expect one day delivery in the modern world. There is, however, no point blaming post office workers when this expectation is not realised. Instead, we should ask why An Post workers are discontent. Until the reasons as set out by Deputy Broughan are addressed, the Minister has no right to accuse workers at the company of sabotage or anything else.

The workforce of An Post, from postmen to postmasters, agree that improvements and modernisation are required and that the public must be given a good service. The problem is that nothing is being done to encourage them to take this route and, instead, they are being threatened that increments will be withheld, pension entitlements will not be paid and the company will be privatised if they do not knuckle under.

Is the current fixation with privatisation the answer to everything? While it appears to resolve some problems, any consideration of the privatisation of Telecom Éireann — the classic case of Eircom — raises the question as to whether consumers benefited. Does Eircom deliver better service? Are we better served now in terms of the international league on the provision of modern telephonic services? The answer to both questions is "No".

Would it not be better to modernise An Post and ensure the company has a future by providing a space for it in the modern Ireland? Instead of depriving workers of that to which they have been entitled for the past ten or 15 years, we should recognise the company's pensioners. As Deputy Broughan noted, it is a sad reflection on society that at a time when the country is allegedly awash with money, much of which has been lost and frequently not found, we refuse to recognise the existence of An Post pensioners, many of whom have passed on, by giving them what is theirs by right.

I realise the sensitivity of the negotiations and discussions taking place. As I noted, this is not a time for the Minister to use threats but one for compromise and negotiation. Ultimately, however, we must recognise that if we do not utilise the assets of the postal network, that is, its post offices, sub-post offices and the company's workers, in a manner which delivers an improved, more extensive and efficient service, the current negotiations will go nowhere.

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