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

I support the amendment because this important point should involve ministerial consent. The Minister does not seem to get it as this is not about privatisation. We are not discussing that, although I am opposed to privatisation. We are not talking about what happened with Eircom. When the parcel service was deregulated, SDS was set up by An Post as its parcel service but it collapsed because competing companies were able to open a warehouse and pay workers low wages with no conditions, contracts or pensions. Hundreds of good jobs were lost when SDS closed down, and that is what I am talking about. Everything should be put in place to protect strongly the workers in An Post, which is why the issue should revert to the Minister for consent.

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