Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to have an opportunity to speak about this especially important item. We have been speaking for many years about postal services and alternative services that might readily be provided through the post office network, but there has not been a whole lot of progress. It is something in respect of which there was an obvious need for change. There was a need for change to move with the times and to face the threat coming from modern technology. I agree entirely with Deputy Eamon Ryan's analysis because An Post has a network throughout the country, which is a huge advantage. It has daily access to every locality in the country through the delivery service. It has counter services in place throughout the country. It is a considerable network. Somebody mentioned the number of couriers that are taking over and that is a question in itself. An Post has the network and could fill that void. An Post allowed that service to develop and could intervene. I know that it has similar services to a certain extent, but the fact is it is there to be delivered on.

We need to look for the compatible services that can be added to An Post through the utilisation of its counter services and national network. That can be done. Reference has been made to banking. I was never 100% certain that banking in the traditional sense was suitable to bolt onto An Post but certainly post office savings accounts and similar are. Rural transport has been referred to. I have spoken about this in the past. It could be linked into An Post. Again, there is a transport system An Post has to use to deliver correspondence, letters and mail throughout the country every day, so there are certainly opportunities there that could and should be utilised for the future. Considerable savings can be made if compatible services are identified for administration through the post office service throughout the country. Rural transport is one that comes to mind. We already have rural transport systems to a certain extent in certain parts of the country, but we often hear about the rural restaurant or pub which is dying for want of patronage. Of course, there is a simple way to deal with that. Provide rural transport and bolt it on if necessary to some of the services that are required.

Speakers have referred to mobile phone services and the fact that bills are now issued electronically. I am not so sure that this is necessary. It is a considerable irritant to many who cannot see a bill in their hands, in particular older people, and who get annoyed when they get a text to say their bill is due and should be paid. Incidentally, these are lucrative services that are being provided by mobile phone companies. Postmasters have first-hand experience of what might be suitable. We have mentioned some of the things about which they have spoken. The list is endless. One can go on and on and identify suitable services to attach to utilise counter services, the network services and the centralised system of An Post to great advantage both for An Post and communities, in particular rural ones.

I do not accept the notion that there is a plan by Government to close all the post offices and that this has been in offing for some considerable time. I drove past the post office on Thomas Street for a long time and there is a closed sign on it for many years now. I do not know who closed it but maybe they opened another one somewhere. The fact is that this has been going on for years. There is a problem where the postmaster or postmistress retires in a particular area and the position is not seen as attractive by anybody else. That has to be addressed. The means have to be found to ensure that a younger person or anybody else who takes over wishing to provide postal services in his or her area as postmaster or postmistress finds taking on the job sufficiently attractive. That is particularly so where there are rural enterprises that require regular postal services.

One of the things we seem to forget from time to time is a matter I have raised with my local authority recently. If we adopt a policy, as there is a tendency nowadays to do, of discouraging the building of any indigenously required houses in rural Ireland, we will eventually cease all development in rural areas and there will be no need for any services. I have spoken about this many times, as have others. It is fundamental to what we are talking about. If the population goes down, a number of things happen automatically. The number of rural schools comes under threat straightaway. That is the obvious thing that happens. Rural services generally, like dispensary services, all come under threat as a result. Decisions by planning authorities in each local authority area should have due regard to the need to try to accommodate, in keeping with good planning principles, the indigenous rural population which is encouraged nowadays to move to urban settlements. I am not sure why because no one has ever told me, notwithstanding the fact that I have been around this place for a long time. It is for economic purposes, of course, because the provision of services in dispersed rural areas is not economical. I can understand it might cost a little more, but it is not always possible to have the best of everything, the cheapest of everything and the most cost-effective of everything while also having a stable society.

One of the things we should always remember is that there has always been a rural community throughout this country. Professor Caulfield in Galway has spent some considerable time saying as much and calling for the recognition of that principle in recent years. As such, I note that this is also an issue and that it affects us in all parts of the country. Urban blight is another contributory factor if one looks at the number of premises throughout the country in towns and villages and even in this city which have been unoccupied and disused for years.

That automatically has a negative impact on the requirement for services such as those provided by An Post. If we continue along those lines and build new replacements in new urbanised settings where population is concentrated, there will be no need for An Post or any rural services.

Other Members referred to driver licences. I would have thought it was an issue that should have been seized upon by An Post when the time came but that did not happen. It was a mistake and something that could have brought An Post back into the scene.

As long as older people are living in rural Ireland, quite a number of whom live in isolated places, there will be a need for a focal point where they can go to dispatch their utility bills. Such a service is in place but if post offices disappear, the service will not be available. There is a necessity to ensure we continue to maintain post offices throughout urban and rural Ireland.

Those who say it cannot be done should note it can be done, but we must be imaginative and think of the extra services that can be bolted on to An Post and which it could undertake to enhance, expand and extend the quality, content and value of the services it currently provides. This has had to be done in many other countries and continues to be the case. There is no end to the amount of innovation we can call upon to do the best we can in this area. They are a number of the options one can readily identify which need to be examined.

I compliment the Minister of State on introducing the Bill because it had to be done. While I understand what Members have said about the increase in the price of stamps dissuading people from using services, I am not sure that is the case. We have one of the cheapest postal systems in Europe in terms of stamps. It should not necessarily be that way and we have to have some recognition that we need to pay for some of things we enjoy. There is no use saying that we want everything for free and blaming somebody else when things do not happen that way. We should not expect things to happen that way.

If we are realistic and accept we must do something and that An Post has within its current structure all of the means to deal with the situation and deliver an expanded, effective and efficient service throughout the entire country, we are on the right track. I hope this intervention has an impact on the operation of An Post. If it does not, and that becomes obvious after a short period of time, we should return to the coalface and do something before it becomes too late. The worst thing that could happen would be that nothing would be done and the system be allowed to wither on the vine. In that case, the post office network would become obsolete, which would be a tragic thing to happen. I am quite sure that private enterprises facing such a situation would find various means to replace services.

I extend my good wishes to the Minister, Deputy Naughten, and hope he will be back in the House soon. I hope he is fit and well and able to take up his duties once again. I also hope that, as a result of ensuring that the Bill is brought before the House at this time, it has the desired and necessary effect in terms of addressing the obvious issues relating to An Post.

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