Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)

The post office has been called the fortress of rural life, the place where senior citizens and others can meet, communicate and keep up to date with neighbours and friends and with what is going on in the community in terms of local events. It is a shocking indictment of the Government that it has since 2002, as my colleague said, closed 500 post offices. I note that Leitrim has lost 41% of its post offices and that Cavan, Sligo and Westmeath have each lost approximately 40% of their post offices. One of the hallmarks of this Administration has been its decimation of the post office network. Did this need to happen?

The Minister continually refers to the European Union, but surely it is the responsibility of the Government to pursue a universal service obligation in regard to postal services notwithstanding the 2009 liberalisation directive. What is happening now is that a key part of rural infrastructure is being removed. The Government is complicit in this and the Minister is not playing a strong enough role in this regard.

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