Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)

Following on from the last debate, this issue is about service provision that is essential for our citizens in rural areas. We must never underestimate the value of the post office to deliver economic and social services to citizens residing in rural Ireland. Not only do they have access to postal services, but also to essential services such as banking, the television licence payment system and social protection payments.

There are areas I would like the Minister to examine to ensure the future viability of our post offices, such as the payment through our post office network of motor tax and the new household charge. I know the Minister is looking at new household broadcasting charges. Access to those services should be available to rural citizens as well as urban citizens on an equal basis.

As a semi-State company, An Post has a commercial mandate from the Government, but I believe it should also have a social obligation to meet its customers' needs. Many post offices have already closed in rural Ireland, and the impact has been felt severely in those areas. An Post may justify these closures due to the proximity of the closing post office to other available post offices in the jurisdiction. However, the time has come where we need full transparency around these decisions. We need clarity on the criteria used by An Post to close such post offices.

Kill is a rural village in the heartland of mid County Waterford, and the post office there services a full 10 km radius, and includes villages such as Bunmahon, Dunhill, Annestown and Ballylaneen. None of those villages has a post office and the people in the area all use Kill post office.

This post office was burgled in October 2011 and there were problems. I believe An Post took an opportunistic decision to close the post office. I took the matter up with the CEO and the senior officials in An Post, and I was very disappointed with the response. It took two months for an elected representative to get a response from the chief executive of a semi-State company. Not only that, the information on the letter was incorrect. It stated that the nearest post office available to the remaining customers is four miles away, when in fact it is 10 km. It is just not good enough for an area with no rural transport links to be abandoned and left in isolation. This issue needs to be revisited and a social impact assessment carried out prior to any decisions being taken by An Post.

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