Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)

Mr. Hutchinson believes that there would be heavy job losses, an increase in prices and a loss of services to those who need them most in communities, the elderly and frail, who would never be financially viable customers for private companies. That has been the reaction to Commissioner McCreevy's plans in many countries. I believe that the Minister was among those at the airport waving him goodbye when he left for Brussels, happy that he was going. Has he asked him about his plans and their impact on Ireland?

The Minister has spoken of models of maintaining the universal service obligation, but what are they and what subsidy would be required? Is he considering a territorial division, with an unbundling of the network in some areas and An Post delivering for other operators? Would there not then be a danger that certain operators, as they have intimated, will cherry-pick those parts of the network most valuable commercially?

What has the Minister done to create a universal service obligation and lay it before the House? Is a postal services Bill not an absolute necessity before the Government leaves office not only in this regard, but relating to a whole range of matters? Why has the Minister not prepared a strategy statement for An Post? He will soon leave office without having given us any strategy from 2010. What is his estimate of the number of people employed by An Post in 2010? Is the Fortis deal in jeopardy now that the Irish Postmasters' Union has said that it cannot support it owing to many of its members effectively working for rates below the minimum wage? The Minister will be leaving office with post offices closing at an approximate rate of one every ten days, such is his track record. The network is effectively closing down and falling apart owing to inaction on his part.

Has the Minister held any talks with his colleague, the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, regarding post office security in the wake of the "tiger" raids? Three have occurred since we last had the chance to put questions to the Minister, with postmistresses and their families subjected by criminals to the most dastardly treatment. What steps has the Minister taken to protect them?

Going back to when the Minister, Deputy Dermot Ahern, was Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, the Government will have halved the post office network it inherited in 1997. It has dismantled it through its disgraceful and thoughtless attitude.

See this speech in context