Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am absolutely shocked that the Government has decided to show its lack of interest in and support for the post office network by amending the motion. The motion before us tonight is very simple. It is a call to action by postmasters and citizens of rural Ireland that asks the Government to wake up to the reality of rural decline. It calls for a plan to be put in place to save the post office network, thereby underpinning the basic infrastructure necessary to keep our rural villages alive and preserving and protecting the basic services that are necessary if rural communities are to survive.

The Government's decision beggars belief. This is a non-contentious motion. It is a cry for help and is being met with a slap in the face delivered by Fine Gael and Labour. I fail to understand how rural Government Deputies can traipse in here tomorrow evening and refuse to support this motion. They were quick to wrap the rural flag around their shoulders in 2011 but tomorrow night, as they vote down this motion, they will be stoking the blaze of extinction of the post office network and the vibrant rural communities it serves. The post office network is at a crossroads but it can and will survive. However, in order to do so, it needs some support. It needs to be able to support its hinterland and the various enterprises and businesses in its communities but it needs Government intervention and assistance. The Grant Thornton report and the report of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport and Communications underpin the network sustainability. A one-off capital investment plan is vital. Banking services rolled out through An Post are part of that solution and one that I believe is badly needed throughout the country as so-called pillar banks retreat with haste.

I appeal to Labour and Fine Gael Deputies to support the motion without amendment. They will be supporting rural communities' lifestyles and voters. By voting down this motion, they will be casting aside those communities, this lifestyle and those citizens.

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