Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

Will the Minister comment on what has happened in the last 12 months? For instance, is he satisfied that adequate action and intervention have taken place to attain a resolution of the problems? Does he not accept that his intervention took place at the 11th hour, constituting a fire brigade action in keeping with the standard reaction in this matter? One of the underlying problems in An Post is the non-payment of pension entitlements to former employees of An Post. Does the Minister agree this is a mean, stingy and insulting action? Should it not be a first principle that the issue is resolved for those who are retired? They should not be penalised. It is an appallingly stingy action to withhold payment from them and it serves no useful purpose.

Will the Minister indicate whether he has ascertained the estimated financial costs of meeting the issues that are the cause of this dispute? Was it beneficial to this debate to read in the newspapers the salaries and overtime of the ten highest paid postmen in the Dublin area? It might have been more helpful to also include details of the ten lowest paid postmen or sub-postmasters. Would this not have been far more constructive in the context of the appallingly poor labour relations in An Post?

The Minister was making deliveries in Trim and Navan recently. Does he intend to have to deliver the post soon?

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