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

I agree with Deputy Moynihan's disposition towards the importance and value of An Post. However, the Irish postal service is a network of commercial enterprises that are subject to EU competition law, so there is no avoiding that. I do not disagree with the sentiments that Deputy Moynihan has expressed but in his question he asks about my plans to guarantee the future of the Irish post office network. Since coming to office, I have taken a number of measures to arrest the decline and rate of closure. I gave the figures earlier but I cannot give a guarantee because public procurement and EU competition law apply. That basic point must be understood because we are not going to have some deus ex machina entering from stage-left that can wave a magic wand and say that EU law applies, but not to the Irish post office network.

The Cabinet sub-committee on social policy is examining what can be done on a whole-of-Government basis but that, too, must be responded to by the Irish postmasters themselves in terms of innovative ideas. These include creating new products and services that, consistent with EU law, will enable the post office network to be used as a front-of-office facility for the provision of Government services.

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