Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

There is no point in having a pilot scheme if it will not impact on people. We need to ensure what we do is robust and actually delivers what is intended. During the Irish EU Presidency we passed three new procurement directives to make the procurement of services simpler. They will be transposed into Irish law in the coming year. We are always looking at new delivery systems that would be more efficient and effective in delivering public services. We now have more than 400 services online and do not need a locations for the vast bulk of them because most people can access them from home 24 hours a day. That demonstrates their efficiency. Post offices have an extremely important role to play and are very dependent on State services. The Tánaiste was happy when they won the procurement contract for the provision of social welfare payments. In an open competition, however, one cannot always assume that they will win. We need to map a future for post offices which will not be dependent on always winning any set of contracts.

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