Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The post office network has sharply declined in this country under both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael-led Governments. How many post offices have closed since 1984? Approximately 1,000. The Irish Postmasters' Union clearly fears that many more may face closure next year. To allow this to happen would be an act of social vandalism. Apart from anything else, there are 3,700 people employed in the country's 1,150 remaining post offices. The Government seems to imply that there is a degree of inevitability about this. It seems to indicate that the rise of e-mail and the decline of the letter means that post offices are more or less in inevitable decline. It would flow from this analysis that those who seek to defend the post office system are, in some respects, dinosaurs. Nothing could be further from the truth. I want to bring into the debate a number of important issues that are left out of that way of looking at it.

With the rise of the Internet, the decline in traditional post is severe without being catastrophic. Traditional post has declined by 38% in this State since 2007. However, alongside this, parcel deliveries from online orders have increased significantly. Up to €6.6 million per day is spent online by Irish households on clothing and household goods alone, yet An Post's SDS delivery service was shut down at precisely the time it should have been beefed up. An attempt was made to force 625,000 social welfare recipients to have their payments sent electronically to bank accounts. Thankfully, the Government, under pressure, has since retreated in respect of this matter. This has not been the first time that Government action has served to undermine the post office. When, at the start of the crash, billions of euro in savings were transferred from banks to post office saving certificates, the rate of return was lowered, at least in part, it would seem, to shore up the commercial banking sector.

The suggestion that a State-run post office bank be established is a positive one that we support. It works well in New Zealand, where Kiwibank seems to be quite a success story. I have seen a number of reports which indicate that, at various times, customer satisfaction ratings for the state-owned post office Kiwibank have been significantly higher than the four Australian-owned trading commercial banks in that New Zealand. Post offices should, of course, also be a hub where a whole range of other State services can be accessed. This would require significant investment but it would be an important investment in light of the social importance of post offices. It would clearly would be an investment of a very worthwhile character. We will be supporting the motion.

See this speech in context