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

If the Deputy is speaking to her colleague, Deputy Dooley, after Question Time, she might tell him that within the next 77 weeks, approximately 97% of all post offices in this country will have direct access to high-speed broadband. We can look at the options for the approximately 30 post offices that will not have such access. I am sure Deputy Dooley will be delighted to hear that. I know there is public concern in this regard. People see digital as a threat to the post office network. I see it as an enabler. It is one way we can bring business into our post office network. Like Deputy Niamh Smyth, I am aware that young people do not go into post offices as often as older people. Younger people go into the post office at Christmas to buy stamps and in the summer to use foreign exchange or passport facilities. What can we do to encourage people to use the post office more frequently? Opportunities in areas like parcel services are available to post offices that have access to broadband. I disagree with the Deputy in so far as I think there is an opportunity to provide a very cost-effective service. It does not cost An Post anything extra to send a parcel from the GPO in Dublin to Caherciveen because it has a fleet of vans that are already providing services across the country under the universal service obligation.

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