Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

An Post should not get away with that. I know the situation is different because contracts are involved, but the reality is that at the end of the week staff are not getting the minimum wage. That is wrong and should be against the law, no matter how it is concocted. These people also subsidise An Post by providing premises, and that should be borne in mind.

In respect of computerisation, it is difficult to believe that at the end of 2006 all post offices do not have access to proper computer hardware and software. People would not believe that the situation is so ridiculous. Deputy Gerard Murphy mentioned mobile phone top-ups. This country has one of the highest ratios of mobile phones per head of population. Topping up a mobile phone is a basic service that should be readily available in towns and villages, especially for the benefit of vulnerable people. It is one example of many services that could be offered by post offices which would make the post office network more viable in the long term.

I ask Members to support this motion. In particular, I ask the Government to support the retention of the network of rural post offices in particular. With Garda stations, it is another area of rural life that is being steadily eroded. It is not simply a soft argument to say that post offices are part of the social fabric. It is the reality because the post office is one of the only points of communication for many people in rural Ireland. It is the last meeting place that exists in some very small villages and we have a social responsibility to these people to keep this network up and running.

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