Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I put it to Deputy Harty that we are not waiting on the report. The report has been done, conducted, published and is being acted upon. One element is the basic bank account, which postmasters and postmistresses have sought for quite some time. Government has also tried to put business the way of post offices. For example, there was the question of driving licences and the question of whether the contributions that were coming in for water could be paid through post offices.

It is not a case of not wanting to help. If we were to define the post office in a rural village in Clare in five years' time, what would it be? Would it be the same size as it is now? What services would it offer? What would be the increased capacity of the postmaster or postmistress to do business? Many maintain we need to surround that country house with other services provided by the State. That is not feasible in many circumstances either. As Deputy Harty is aware, with the change in the way business operates, people can conduct business traditionally done in the post office in other outlets. While we have 1,100 or 1,000 post offices throughout the country, Government is favourably disposed towards keeping business alive. It is a question of what we can do to help them in terms of technology, training, upskilling and new services that can be provided. As Deputy Harty is aware, many of these services have changed radically.

It is not a question of waiting for reports. It is a question of acting on the report we have. I can confirm for Deputy Harty that the Minister of State, Deputy Ring, is very active in this regard.

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