Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

First, I call on the Government to use its influence in a positive way to address any outstanding issues relating to labour relations in An Post, which have caused unease and distrust in the past, and to clarify the circumstances whereby salary, pension payments or increases due or anticipated are to be met. I readily recognise that the chief executive officer of An Post has done a tremendous amount of work in this area and is obviously seriously engaged in the work. Both he and An Post will require the imprimatur of Government to ensure that all outstanding issues are dealt with. This is because the Government set aside sections 45 and 46 of the Postal and Telecommunications Services Act 1983 and made it difficult for us to raise questions about the matter afterwards. The Government was in the best position to positively influence what is required in this area. My colleagues will deal with this further.

I call on the Government to use its influence in a positive way to provide for the computerisation, modernisation and upgrading of the entire network of post offices and sub-post offices with a view to providing a reliable, efficient and cost-effective next-day delivery service throughout the country. The first thing we must realise is that to ensure there is a future for the entire postal service, we must have an efficient, cost-effective and reliable service. It is no good having glitches in the system. We must resolve all these problems once and for all. I know that some of these issues are in hand, but to deal with them effectively, the Government, particularly the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, must bestir themselves and ensure that they are fully au fait with what is required.

We must recognise the value of the network and ensure we face competition. Two things can happen with deregulation, from which we are only a hair's breadth. We can maintain a strong, vibrant and effective postal service and ensure its existence into the future or we can throw our hands up in the air and say that nothing can be done. Some commentators say modern technology has replaced all this and that things will be done differently in the future, but I do not agree with this. There must and always will be a place for the transaction of business at local and community level throughout the country. There is so much emphasis on community enterprise at the moment that if we fail to recognise that critical element of bringing the technology to the people, we will fail the people. I call on the Government to use its combined influence in a positive way to ensure these matters are dealt with.

We must recognise and address the appallingly low level of pay to a substantial number of postmasters, who have effectively subsidised the service by providing premises and working at a rate below the minimum wage and, in some cases, below the poverty line. I do not know whether the House fully recognises the importance of this, but there has been a fairly sizeable number of postmasters who have worked and provided a service in their own premises to such an extent that they have effectively worked for nothing. A recent survey showed that approximately 75 or 76 of them have been working at a level of pay below the poverty line. There is now an opportunity to recognise and address these issues without more ado.

I presume the Minister will be home tomorrow and if he has given up the Tannoy in Hanoi, he will have time to return and address these issues in a very positive way. Even if he does not do so, I can rely on the Minister of State at the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Deputy Browne, who, as a Member from Wexford, is fully aware of the critical role likely to be played by the postal service in the future and will recognise those people who have given of their best for so long with so little recognition. We now have the opportunity to recognise them.

Notwithstanding deregulation, we must also recognise the existence of a public service, or universal, obligation. The Minister or someone else might tell us there cannot be any assistance for a utility service because it is deregulated, but this is not true. Other countries have had to do so. In most European countries, some assistance is given either by way of direct grant, public service obligation or some other means. I do not wish to see the quality and service of the postal delivery services in this country drop down to the level of that in some European countries with which we were all familiar in the past. We laughed at the fact that, after we came back from holidays, the postcard we sent on the first day of our holiday arrived home two or three weeks after we arrived home.

Communications in the modern era are very important. We cannot underestimate the value of bringing the power of modern communications to local people in local areas. I have mentioned the need to computerise and upgrade. In addition to Fortis Bank, there is a vast number of compatible services which can be tagged on to the postal service with no additional cost. It can be done simply by fully utilising the availability of the services that are readily available and the goodwill of the staff involved.

We must facilitate the development and extension of a wide range of compatible services through the postal system and encourage Departments, including the Departments of Social and Family Affairs, to get involved. The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government could be encouraged to get involved if it wishes to update and upgrade the register of electors on a regular basis. The obvious place to go in this regard is the post office whose staff go to almost every house in the country on a daily basis. No other group of people has the same access to and knowledge of dealing with the public as post office staff.

We all know about the instructions given to the Department of Social and Family Affairs in respect of electronic money transfer. The post offices will now have the services of a bank alongside and integrated within them, which is to be welcomed. We should take full advantage of this. The Government should have the courage of its convictions and, through the Minister or the Taoiseach, if necessary, issue instructions to the Department of Social and Family Affairs to ensure the major amount of this business is transacted through post offices.

The time has come for us to provide a good, honest, reliable and effective service and to recognise the effectiveness of the service that once existed and should exist again if that driving force from the Government is there. I do not accept that we should leave all this to regulators or anyone else in the future. We have witnessed the farcical situation pertaining to regulators in the past few weeks where, flying in the face of public opinion and all other economic indicators, the Commission for Energy Regulation approved increases in gas and electricity prices, but subsequently climbed down and pretended that a reduction by a small amount in the increases now represented a decrease. That was the greatest farce of all time. I do not want to see the same thing happen in the postal services. It says much about the impartiality and independence of the regulators. Let there be a clear commitment on the part of the Government to put in place the measures necessary to ensure that the postal service will survive and will be effective, viable, sought-after and supported by the people.

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