Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)

I declare an interest in this. I am the local post master in our small village and that is why I fully appreciate and value the excellent service provided over the years in rural areas. I remember Deputy Harrington giving a very eloquent speech on rural post offices one evening in the House.

I fully accept the Minister's bona fides and that he may not think that this is what will result, but I am afraid that if this is opened up and others come in to cherrypick, they will not understand that the service as carried out in the past was more than just delivering mail and was more than just a business. An Post and the postal people who ran our post offices over the years are like social workers. It might seem like a miserable letter to some people, but the act of going to meet a person in a rural location is more than just delivering the mail. The postman might inform the person about who died that week, tell a bit of gossip, or have a debate about politics or football. If that kind of social interaction is taken away in the future, then it is another death knell to rural Ireland. It is losing something that we have cherished and appreciated. That is why I am concerned about the content of this Bill and that is why I put forward an amendment and support other amendments in the same area. They are in the interests of rural Ireland. I am not saying for one minute that the Minister does not have the interests of rural Ireland in his heart as well, because I know that he does. I just have a deep concern about this, as someone who worked in the post office and who knows how important the service is to people in rural locations.

Loneliness is an awful problem in rural areas, and the postman calling and delivering the mail really means so much to people. As everything has become so money orientated, I could see people in the future saying that it does not make financial sense to deliver one letter to a person at the end of a long road. It might not make financial sense, but from a human point of view, it makes great sense and it might mean so much to that person. That is why I am worried about cherrypicking in the future and is why I wanted to voice my concerns. However, I am not trying to say that the Minister is the big bad wolf putting something through against the people, because that would not be the case. I certainly hope that my heartfelt views will be taken on board in this matter.

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