Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)

Dutch mail is privatised and liberalised to a point where private companies can bring their mail to a delivery area, where it is then delivered by the workers. However, we are missing the point on cherrypicking. The Minister said that nobody wants competition. The reason we do not want competition is there for all to see right across Europe. The US does not allow private mail companies to work in their states as it is a public service. It is not a question of the profitable parts subsidising the unprofitable areas for An Post. It is a question of jobs being lost, what companies are picking up those jobs and the conditions those jobs entail. We have seen it happen in private companies in England and elsewhere throughout Europe where a postal worker is given a jacket and a satchel and paid much less than the postal worker employed by the State who has good conditions, reasonable pay, a pension to which to look forward and with the security of steady job he or she can possibly afford to go to a bank in the future to put a down payment on a house and take out a mortgage. That is what is being lost here. The security associated with being employed in a huge State body is being lost and that will have an impact. All the money in the world that is provided by a private company that has chosen to deliver a service in Dublin 4, in the inner city area where all the offices are based or in a high residential area will not save those jobs. That is why this Bill must be rejected.

In certain circumstances, we can bring this case to Europe and point out that this is not what we need here at this time. I am sure something can be done in that respect. The Bill must be opposed. I cannot accept the Minister's arguments in this respect.

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