Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Rural Independent Group for bringing forward this important motion on this vital topic. Fianna Fáil will be supporting the motion.

The post office network is such an important and strategic State asset. It plays an invaluable role as a centre-point for communities and commercial activity in urban and rural communities. The Government needs to think big and show imagination when it comes to reinventing the national post office network. During the past five years we saw how the members of the previous Government sat on their hands while our invaluable rural post office network declined. The new Administration has shown the same lack of interest in addressing the situation.

Post offices are the heartbeat of many rural towns, villages and communities throughout the county and we need to plan for their future. Many local people have come to me to express concerns about the type of services on offer. Some have raised the fact that agencies working on behalf of An Post cannot process registered mail. This forces many people to go to nearby towns for a full service and to collect registered post. The entire network needs to be reviewed to see how we can increase the number of services on offer. Basing the future of the post office network on what done in the past is a foolish place to start. We need to see our post office network as a vital cog in the development of rural Ireland. This requires new ways of thinking. There are numerous opportunities, including banking options, a one-stop-shop facility as well as opportunities for a range of State services to be offered through the post office network.

Many older people in particular have raised this issue with me. They are seriously concerned about losing important services. They rely on the local post office not only for sending post, but for collecting post, meeting friends and neighbours and discovering what is happening in their communities. The face-to-face service is vital for older people. For some it provides the only weekly opportunity to get out to meet neighbours and friends. Many other community organisations have started to fill in the gap whether through lunches and so on, but collecting the pension on a Friday is a key interaction.

In my area, unfortunately, a number of post offices closed during the tenure of the previous Government, including the post offices in Toames and Carriganima. The post office in Ballingeary was downgraded. This move really stunned people since it is near the highly-populated village of Farran, where the post office has just closed. The Grant Thornton report from 2014 concluded that hundreds of post offices could close, mainly due to the movement towards the direct electronic transfer of social welfare payments. There needs to be a clear vision to expand the post office network. We want to increase the products that are available and expand this important rural service.

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