Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We have three Ministers with some level of responsibility for An Post and the post office network, which is a ludicrous situation. While I have admired the Minister for some things he has done, I have criticised him for others. I am approaching this matter constructively, however, as I know that Government Deputies are also frustrated with the situation. I am asking the three relevant Ministers to go to the Taoiseach and ask him to make one of the three of them responsible for An Post. The Minister said he is responsible for the corporate body of An Post, while his colleague, the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, is responsible for the network and the Minister of State, Deputy Ring, is responsible for developing the smaller less viable post offices. That system cannot work, however. There can only be one Minister with one line of responsibility because all of An Post's services are meshed together. This applies to the GPO and the four mail centres, one of which is in my constituency in Portlaoise.

I am respectfully asking the Minister to do so because they cannot be separated. I think the Minister is frustrated, annoyed and unhappy with this situation. A solution has to be found, so I ask the three Ministers to go to the Taoiseach to sort out who is responsible.

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