Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Broughan for his question, although maybe not his comments. As he said, if no one is willing to come forward and take on the business in towns like Howth, a fundamental question needs to be asked: how do we modernise the offering so that people will want to take it on. What hope have we of keeping sub-post offices in rural Ireland open if people are not prepared to take on a post office in towns like Howth? Key to this is using digital as a driver. We all know of the post office's role in social welfare and how older people in particular use it. There is a significant opportunity for the postmaster to be used as the gateway to the digital world and for State and non-State services to be provided. Websites like Switcher.ieand bonkers.iecan offer people up to €300 in savings on their electricity and gas bills, yet many older people are not availing of them because they are not able or willing to go online to do so. This is an opportunity for providing a service through the local post office. Many other similar services could be provided in support of what the Government is doing.

On the other side, we also need to get young people to start going to their post offices. It is not good enough that the only time people go to a post office is at Christmas to buy a stamp or in the summer to get a passport.

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