Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

I welcome this motion and thank my colleague, Deputy Durkan, for tabling it. It was quite interesting to listen to some speakers from the Government side effectively support the motion. We will wait and see if they put their money where their mouths are when it comes to 1.30 p.m. and they get the opportunity to vote on it.

The motion clearly recognises the central role and function of the post office network and its services to the social and economic life of this country. That applies especially, but not exclusively, to rural Ireland. It is something which practically all speakers acknowledged in their contributions, which shows how true and accurate the statement is in the motion. When it comes to action in respect of this issue, however, the reality is very different. In the relatively short period I have been in this House — four and a half years — several post offices in my constituency have closed. They have closed in the Pike of Rushall, The Heath and Ballyfin in County Laois and in Ballinagar, Rahan, Cadamstown and Fortel in County Offaly. Another post office in Shannon Harbour, which was a converted post office, has since closed. That is the reality for these towns and villages.

When one looks at the fact that 70% of social welfare payments are processed by post offices and that it is mainly elderly people who call in to collect those payments, one can see that post offices perform an extremely important social function. Aside from that social function, if people do not have a post office in their own village or rural area, they are forced to go to the next town, but how do they get to there? The rural transport scheme is not as effective as it should be and does not serve all the areas it should, particularly where post offices have closed. If a person orders a taxi, he or she must pay for it to come to his or her home, to take him or her into the town and then to bring him or her home. A person could spend €20 or €30 of his or her pension on the process of collecting it. That is the reality of life in rural Ireland.

It is very easy for An Post to use the excuse that it cannot get staff to work in post offices. I have heard this excuse time and again. There is a reason An Post cannot get staff. I would not work for the amount of money being offered and neither would An Post and it is disgraceful that it expects other people to work for that amount of money. The reality is that these people are working for below the minimum wage. I attended a meeting in Thurles last January or February with post office staff, postmasters from around the midlands and that part of Tipperary, and from listening to them the position was clear, but it was more fascinating to listen to the speeches made by all the politicians there from all sides of the House who agreed 100% with what they said. It is nearly one year later, but nothing has changed in respect of them. If private sector companies did not pay their staff the minimum wage, they would be prosecuted, and rightly so.

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