Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)

The Minister acknowledged that sub-post offices are closing. Does he realise that the reason this is happening is that when post masters or post mistresses retire it does not pay people to take up the job. In Connemara, the post office recently closed in Maam and I was at a meeting in Cashel last night, which is more than 5 km from any other post office, where the post office also closed. When small post offices close, people no longer wish to take up the job of post master or post mistress because it would not pay them to keep an office open for the small return they would get. Instead of the pay per item system operating in these sub-post offices, is it possible for An Post or the Minister to introduce a system of flat rate payment to post masters or post mistresses to keep post offices open in rural areas?

As the Minister has acknowledged, much of the work is now done in other ways. Television licences can be paid on-line and the post office is not required for such transactions but it is an essential part of the community. In view of the many social benefits attached to the post office referred to by the Minister, would it be possible to make a flat rate of payment to sub-postmasters and sub-post mistresses instead of a pay per item system?

On what was the €12.7 million referred to by the Minister spent? Was any of it spent in an endeavour to keep rural sub-post offices open? In Connemara the Maam and Cashel post offices have already closed and the post offices in Cornamona and Clonbur are in danger of being closed simply because when the post master or post mistress retires nobody will take on the job because on the current rate of pay it would not pay anybody to keep an office open.

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