Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister mentioned €55 million. That is paid to An Post rather than the post offices. It is a pity that An Post does not pay it to the post offices directly, but that is a different matter.

I have a social welfare form here - the Minister has seen some of these forms - and it states that the Department recommends direct payment to the customer's current, deposit or savings accounts in a financial institution. That is the first port of call. It is only if a customer does not have an account in a financial institution that the Department asks the customer to indicate the post office where the customer wishes for the payment to be made. That is a direction from the Department rather than an option. That is a change in the way the Department works.

I have given out before about how Tús workers must have a bank account to receive their payment from the Department of Social Protection. The payment is not facilitated through the post office service. If the Department continues this migration then the contract will obviously drop substantially. The Minister should bear in mind that most people receiving social welfare payments in the State are usually dependent on it. If the Department starts making them go to financial institutions it will impose an extra cost on them which is not on them at the moment with An Post. There are transaction costs in most financial institutions.

See this speech in context