Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate Deputy Michael Ring on being appointed to his ministry. I recall a very heated debate not too long ago when the subject of who was responsible for the post offices at the Cabinet, at the level of Minister or Minister of State, exercised a particular passion on the part of the then Minister of State, Deputy Michael Ring, and the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Denis Naughten. Obviously, today's question arises after some Cabinet changes. First, Deputy Michael Ring is now to be Minister for community and rural affairs. What is his responsibility for the post offices now? Presumably with the rural affairs brief being transferred from the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Heather Humphreys, as we understood from the statement this morning of the Taoiseach, Deputy Michael Ring is now to be responsible for the post office network. Part 20 of the action plan for rural development states, "Oversee and monitor the implementation of actions to support the Post Office Network, arising out of the report of the Post Office Renewal Board and the Post Office Hub Working Group". The question is very simple. The leading executives of the post office network - the leading management of the post office network - have produced a plan for hundreds of post office closures. Under the Government of which I was a member, there were almost no post office closures. What is the Minister going to do about it?

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