Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Tom Fleming for his question. This is an important issue in rural Ireland. The world in which we live has changed very much over the past ten to 30 years.

Some 24 post offices were closed since 2010 and 197 closed between 2006 and 2010, figures that speak for themselves. Post offices were an important social element of rural Ireland. In many cases, post offices were part of a small shop, a supermarket, a petrol filling station or other facilities that grew over the years. In other cases, there was just a post office in the corner room of a house. Over the years, postmasters and postmistresses moved on and things changed with the digital and electronic worlds. The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Alex White, appointed a group to look at this. The terms of reference are to examine the potential from existing and new Government and commercial business that could be transacted through the post office, identify new business opportunities for the post office network, taking into account what is happening internationally, to engage as necessary with the public sector, commercial bodies and other interested parties in pursuit of the objectives, and to prepare an interim and final report for the Minister by the autumn. In so far as the Government is concerned, it has no intention of closing any post offices.

See this speech in context