Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I take on board what the Deputy is saying. The evidence would appear to be, for example, that where a post office has been refurbished and modernised and has the latest technology, it attracts new business. Deputy Moynihan will know that some of the older offices he has spoken about have been run down, and the trickle of business is limited enough. I know the kind of constituency the Deputy represents but, for example, there is very similar terrain at the other end of the country. I got a telephone call before I came into the House about the post office in Greencastle, at the tip of Donegal, which is threatened with closure because of developments in the family who were the postmasters. I then find that the bank has pulled out of the adjacent village of Moville. It seems there might be an argument for An Post looking at what the bank is leaving behind and trying to maintain the Greencastle facility. An Post will argue that very little business has been going through it, but as Deputy Moynihan said, it is important to the local community and it may well be that An Post would look again at it in the light of the decision of the bank in Moville to pull back and provide a service to people in respect of basic bank products as well.

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