Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Acting Chairman again for the opportunity to contribute on some of the issues that have been raised. The role of An Post and its universal service obligation is one of the crunch issues in regard to the legislation.

We must remember the position of the Department of Posts & Telegraphs before the telegraphs end was ultimately privatised as Eircom. We know what competition does. We are subject to the private market and I understand private industry works on the basis of operating for profit rather than providing a service. If a service is an obligation, industry will do it at the minimum cost possible but its heart is not in it, nor the capital investment that will be required going forward over a period of, say, five years with regard to the renewal and updating of plant, equipment and delivery, distribution and collection vehicles. This can only be done if there is a strong central organisation that has the funding to provide all of those services.

We have seen when the private sector gets hold of an organisation that it will be bought out. If some of the operators get bigger or are designated a universal service operator, they will be bought out, and it is only a matter of how many years this will take, whether 18 months or two years, for example. Then, after that operator builds up a big debt in the organisation, some other company from another part of the world, whether Australia, the United States or otherwise, will buy it out in a further two years. After several years, we will see a big debt loaded onto these companies, with no funding for capital investment and development of the business.

Ireland has a population of less than 2% of the EU population so the issue of ensuring competition is brought in immediately is not core to the European position. We are not rich pickings for anyone at EU level or for any of the major competitors. Even a company such as DHL has stated An Post is one of the most efficient operators in Europe at present but I am fearful that if the universal obligation gets stretched, it will cause difficulties.

The time people receive their post is an issue, although this might not be understood. It is fine for people in towns. One can send private personal correspondence and find that people in urban areas get that post at 8 a.m. or 9 a.m., before they go to work. However, many areas do not get post at that early stage and it can be 11 a.m., noon or sometimes into the early afternoon before the post is delivered. This is the situation at present. Can one imagine the situation if there is cherry-picking, with An Post providing the infrastructure but not the last mile of the delivery? It could be well into the evening before post is delivered. Not only will rural areas suffer a loss of service but they will be lucky to get their post before Angelus time at 6 p.m.

I am concerned that people will see a deterioration in the service. The point about the postman delivering groceries was a throwaway comment, and we all know they do not do that. They are not running other errands in rural areas but they are out there, meeting the people and providing a service and an interface for An Post with its own customers, which is very important.

See this speech in context