Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

At the end of September, there were 1,127 outlets, comprising 51 company and 1,076 contract-operated post offices, and 113 postal agencies throughout the country. The implementation of the recommendations of the Post Office Development Network Group falls under the remit of the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Humphreys. However, I am conscious of the issues involved here. Deputy Dooley is correct that this issue affects rural and urban communities across this country, because the urban communities have lost their post office networks as well, but there will not be a post office network for anyone if we cannot secure the long-term financial viability of the overall company. The difficulty with the overall company is that it is managing a significant decline in mail volumes. Mail volumes have declined by 30% since 2009. The projected rate of fall in mail volumes between now and 2020 is 5% per annum. Every 1% drop represents a €5 million drop in revenue. The reality is that the post office network and the other commercial operations of the company are profitable and the mail sector is the one that is losing money.

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