Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I take back the word "lying". They are meagre with the truth. When it comes to the local elections, I urge people to ask the candidates who come to their door whether they are for rural post offices and the post office network or if they are happy to go along with the Labour Party and Fine Gael line. The Minister for Social Protection - otherwise known as Wonder Woman, according to the Sunday Independent - has a great deal to answer in this regard. If Wonder Woman really is interested in retaining jobs, she should be directing new recipients of welfare, in a proactive way, to use their post offices.

The bottom line is that if we do not use our post offices, we will lose them. Our small pubs are gone. Our small shops are gone. Petrol stations are gone. Small GP clinics are gone. Local hardware shops are gone. The creameries are gone. If the Minister, Deputy Rabbitte, keeps going the way he is going, we will be left with nothing but the three Bs - briars, bullocks and badgers. The banks have made a mess of our country; now they want to make a mess of our post office network. The Government's amendment is a sop that will allow its backbenchers to come in here with their heads down and row in behind the party line like sheep. As other speakers have stated, there is no need for an amendment. It is nothing but nonsense because the motion before us is perfect.

I conclude by remembering the old-time warriors who worked in our post offices. The old postmasters who also had to run the telephone exchanges started work at 8 a.m. and kept on until 10 p.m., putting in a 14-hour day. I had the privilege of knowing some of them and I remember them tonight in a heartfelt way. They are gone to their eternal reward, God be good to them. They served our communities well for very little reward. Perhaps they are praying that the Minister will see the light and ensure our post offices, in both rural and urban communities, are kept intact. It will be a disgrace if he lets anything happen to them.

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