Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Kevin Humphreys, for attending to take this Topical Issue, which is one that has been raised with me by postmasters in my constituency in recent weeks. I am sure that postmasters have been contacting Deputies in other constituencies about it as well. It relates to the revised application form for pensions that was sent out by the Department of Social Protection asking people to consider financial institutions - banks - as their first option for payment. Postmasters believe that this was biased. As one stated, postmasters were being asked to put themselves out of business by recommending that their customers use financial institutions for certain Department of Social Protection payments rather than the post offices themselves.

The postmasters also pointed to the facts that more than 200 post offices have closed in recent years, approximately two thirds of which were in rural communities, and that Department of Social Protection payments constituted one third of post offices' revenue. That is a large chunk of revenue. If people were to move en masse to financial institutions, the Irish Postmasters Union, IPU, contends that approximately 400 of the 1,100 remaining post offices would be put at risk.

A review of the future of post offices was published recently. It made a number of recommendations on how to expand their services. The Minister of State might be able to indicate where those recommendations lie within Government policy or thinking.

We should recognise that the post office network is the largest retail sector in the State, employing approximately 3,700 people. Apart from the employment aspect, there is a social element to the post offices, particularly in rural areas, but also in urban centres. For example, my constituency of Cork North-Central has large urban areas like Farranree, Knocknaheeny, Parklands and Onslow Gardens that do not have a bank. In fact, there is no bank across the north side of the constituency. They are all centred in the valley. Elderly people must travel several miles to the nearest bank even though there is a post office just around the corner.

We need to examine policy on this matter and take the recent review on board. That review made a number of recommendations that should be examined. Asking people who are reliant on social welfare payments to consider as their first option banking institutions would be unfair. The letters that I received from the postmasters asked for the Government at the minimum to withdraw the application form and return the original, which placed the post office as the first option and made no recommendation as to which institution people should use. Their request could be considered.

This is a pressing issue. I have spoken to postmasters in other areas. They are raising the matter and there is some lobbying. Will the Minister of State comment on the review and the rationale behind the Department's decision to make banking institutions the preferred option?

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