Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

I do not know if it is Deputy Ó Cuív's long years in government that has made him so cynical of all exchanges that take place between the elected Oireachtas and institutions established by the Oireachtas. I have not got that cynical yet. I believe ComReg takes into account the sensible views of Oireachtas Éireann and sensible views argued with it by other interests. Why would ComReg approve a change that would be deleterious either to postal users, whom it is required to protect, or to the interests of An Post? It is unlikely to happen. The reason we are putting this in the Bill is to ensure that there is flexibility on the part of An Post to react to changes that take place in the market. I cannot see how the regulator of the service would impose a change that would damage the interests of users and harm the commercial potential of the postal company.

Throughout the debate Deputy Ó Cuív has posited the regulator as the big, bad bogeyman trying to do down the postal user. We have no evidence for that since 2000. A 2002 statute sets out a hierarchy of goals and objectives, in respect of which ComReg must function. I do not know where this is coming from. I hope the Deputy's 14 former Cabinet colleagues did not share his cynical view of the world because if that is the case, what is the point in any of us being here?

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