Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

We have learned that getting rid of the price cap will require emergency legislation and that the extent of the crisis in An Post is only starting to be revealed. There has been a decline of almost 7% in mail volumes this year, 10% is projected next year and the company is practically out of cash. How did we allow the situation to drift to the point that there is such an emergency? I understand there will not be any prelegislative scrutiny of the emergency legislation and that An Post, which was to have come before the joint committee today, is not now coming.

Could we or should we facilitate such a meeting in advance of the emergency legislation being introduced and the price cap being removed? This is a company in deep crisis and 9,000 employees face a bleak year in which it is hard to see how the company will survive, given the 10% drop in volumes and a price increase which will probably make it even worse. Surely the Oireachtas committee should examine it before the legislation and the price cap removal go through.

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