Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)

I commend Deputy Durkan on bringing this motion before the House. The closure of rural post offices has been before the Government for the past nine years and there is little evidence of any substantial progress in reversing the decline. The figures are startling in that one quarter of post offices have closed since 2000. There are now only 1,365 post offices in the country and just 84 of them are full post offices. The remainder are sub-offices and these are in grave danger also. A substantial number of these post offices are still non-automated. Recently, in my constituency, two post office closed. One was in Kilnamona, and it is not intended to replace it, and the other is in the rural area of Carrigaholt. As previous speakers stated, few people are interested in taking up the position of postmaster there as An Post does not pay enough for them to make a living.

Deputy Connaughton referred to the fact that post offices are located in prime villages but they also are in vulnerable locations. Recently a major robbery took place at the post office in Doonbeg in which €40,000 was taken. Post offices are a constant security risk.

A study in Britain by the New Economics Foundation found that in urban areas every €15 earned in post offices generated €24.30 for the local economy. The ratio would probably not be as great in rural areas but it is no less important. The loss of a village post office can have a detrimental effect on the local economy. If pensioners are no longer drawing their pensions in post offices, they are no longer providing business to the local shop. They are forced, where possible, to drive to the nearest large town. For those with access to transport, which many people do not have, it creates further congestion on our roads and further expense for the individuals concerned, or their relatives, in making the trip. Post offices are a centre not only for the local community but also for local businesses.

It is not good enough for An Post management to wash its hands of a sub-post office when it fails to find an operator to take over a post office when a postmaster or postmistress resigns. Equally, it is not sufficient for the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources to state in reply to parliamentary questions that he has no role in the operation of post offices and that the issue in question is a matter for An Post. That is evading responsibility because, ultimately, the Government has responsibility for such matters.

Deputy Crawford referred to a closure in his constituency. One cannot blame people for closing down offices as many people are making as little as €15,000 a year for working long hours and opening five and a half days a week. In many cases, post offices are not commercial entities and they are not sustainable as such. On the other hand, An Post made a profit of €41 million last year. This shows there is clearly something wrong in terms of priorities. While An Post is to be congratulated on the range of services now provided in main post offices, including savings and investment schemes, prize bonds, banking and paying bills, money transfers and insurance products, An Post should not be in it just for the money. There is nothing wrong with making substantial profits but my concern is how those profits are used. Much of those profits should be put back into the branch network to make rural branches viable as businesses. Deputy Durkan stated that we should recognise the existence of a public service obligation notwithstanding deregulation.

An Post's service has declined in recent years. Previously, if one posted a letter in Ennis at 8 p.m., it was delivered locally the following morning. If one's letters are not posted at the main post office in Ennis by 5 p.m., they will not be delivered the next day. They will have to go to the central office in Cork and, as Deputy Connaughton said, delivery could take up to three days. In this day and age a letter should be delivered within 24 hours and there should be a following day delivery rate of 95%.

An Post management needs to make some fundamental policy changes affecting the profitability of rural post offices if the decline in their numbers is to be reversed and we are to avoid turning rural villages into ghost towns. As Deputy Hogan said, this is already happening in the case of Garda stations and rural pubs.

See this speech in context