Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 15, 19, 56, 248 and 257 together.

The Government's core policy goal for the postal sector is to ensure that Irish customers, both business and residential, enjoy competitively priced, high quality postal services. The Communications Regulation (Postal Services) Bill 2010, which transposes the third postal services directive, has been published and Second Stage was taken in the Seanad last Wednesday. The directive provides for the final step in the gradual and controlled opening of the postal services market to competition.

In designing the new regulatory framework, the key principles are the maintenance of a universal postal service, the essential element of which is the collection and delivery of mail to every address in the State on every working day, and the development of a competitive sector providing competitively priced, high quality postal services to both business and residential customers.

The continuing provision and maintenance of the universal postal service is an explicit requirement of the directive. This key principle is enshrined in the new Bill, which designates An Post as the universal postal service provider. Designating An Post offers certainty to postal service users, An Post, the market and the EU that the universal service obligation will be met throughout the whole country, with no urban-rural divide. In addition, the Bill designates ComReg as the postal services regulator and one of its statutory functions is to ensure the provision of a universal postal service that meets the reasonable needs of users.

An Post has, to date, met the costs of providing the universal postal service from its own resources and it is my preference that it would continue to meet these costs from its commercial revenues. However, in line with the options permitted by the directive, a provision has been included in the Bill whereby any potential costs that arise in meeting the universal service obligation which are found to be an unfair burden will be met by the postal industry through a sharing mechanism.

It is right and appropriate that those postal service providers competing with An Post within the universal service contribute where the regulator verifies that an unfair burden exists. Exchequer funding of the universal service is not an option and consequently the Bill does not provide for such funding. There is a commitment to the delivery of a high quality postal service and the Bill provides that ComReg, the postal regulator, continue to set targets for and monitor the quality of service in relation to next day delivery provided by An Post, in its provision of the universal service.

Employment and service standards within the postal sector are the responsibility of the management of postal service providers. In addition, general employment legislation applies across the economy as a whole.

With regard to discussions held with An Post on the Bill, I and my officials regularly meet representatives from the company to discuss a range of matters of importance to the company, including issues relating to the liberalisation of the postal market. In addition, the issues for Ireland, arising from the directive, have been widely and comprehensively consulted upon. In 2008, a public consultation was held which elicited responses from many of the key stakeholders in the sector. These fed into an options paper, published by my Department in 2009, which examined the options for a liberalised postal market and made a number of recommendations.

I also hosted a postal forum, in November 2009, which was attended by many stakeholders in the sector, including postal service providers, the wider business community, the postal regulator, staff representation groups and users' interests groups, and in the main, there was broad support for the recommendations outlined in the options paper.

Following passage of the Bill through the Seanad I look forward to the debate in this House. It is my objective to have the legislation enacted before the end of the year.

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