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

I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate. Deputy Ó Cuív's final line was that we need action now but for many years and even decades people have been talking about protecting post offices and keeping them alive. All that time, An Post has been sitting back and letting post offices close when a postmaster retired or died, leaving communities without those facilities.

I listened to the Minister of State's comments about reports and plans, etc. The simple and fundamental fact is that we must accept that as legislators we must empower An Post. The memorandum of understanding regarding how An Post is set up must be changed. As legislators, we must take control of An Post, which is a semi-State body, and it should be put into a contract that there should be a retail outlet within a certain distance of everybody's house. That is a simple fact. Otherwise, whoever is here in ten or 15 years will be speaking about post offices and lamenting their passing. Going back over the years, there was talk about the different services that should have been made available in post offices but it is still the same language that is being spoken, and it will continue until we tackle the fundamental issue.

The management of An Post does not seem to have any plan for maintaining these post offices. They are vital hubs that keep communities alive. There are oceans of scope, capability and capacity within the An Post retail network. It is a trusted brand throughout the country. There is much scope to advance the services for people from all age groups in rural Ireland, who will interact with the local post office network to maintain them. Until we change the memorandum of understanding with An Post, challenge it and legally have a framework meaning it must maintain the network, An Post will not wake up and go after the businesses that will maintain these networks.

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