Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am certainly not ignoring it and I am conscious of the importance of a vibrant post office network. That is why I set up this review group under the chairmanship of Mr. Bobby Kerr to report to me. I will be meeting him next week to see how he is getting on with the work he is doing. He is approaching this in an enthusiastic way and the Irish Postmasters Union is co-operating with the exercise.

There are 51 post offices in County Wexford with four postal agencies providing Department of Social Protection payments. The Deputy gave a list of closures since 2006. Since 2009, five post offices have closed in the county. I am not walking away from the importance he attaches to this agenda. I am confident and hopeful that the business review group will pull together several different ideas. Mr. Kerr has great retail experience and there are others participating in group. We have to ensure the post office network survives in a sustainable way and can be commercially viable, as well as socially significant.

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