Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise the future of the Portlaoise mail centre. It is a major hub for An Post in the midland region that deals with a large volume of mail every night. I hope this will be a useful and positive debate at this late hour. I also hope the Minister will be able to confirm that all is well and in order and that Portlaoise mail centre will be secure into the future. As we debate this tonight, the Portlaoise mail centre is processing up to 450,000 mail items in addition to approximately 28,000 parcels. It is one of the busiest mail centres in the country.

It is the largest post hub outside Dublin and the national hub for processing all international parcels arriving in the country. The mail centre has a customs service presence which means that high security measures are in place to detect illicit items that could arrive in the country by parcel post for onward distribution. The unit in Portlaoise is very active in conjunction with the customs service.

We must all recognise that the decline in mail volumes has placed postal services under pressure and that An Post must adapt to meet the future needs of its customers. The recent initiative whereby parcels will be delivered in the evening and on Saturdays is a great response to customer demands.

I understand An Post commissioned a report from McKinsey & Company which did not make any negative finding in respect of the Porlaoise mail centre and did not recommend scaling down or closing the centre. While there may be excess capacity in the country generally, its strategic geographical location makes Portlaoise mail centre a central hub in the network. The centre needs to be maintained for a variety of reasons. Few areas of the country cannot be reached by road within two hours from Portlaoise. I am sure I will meet one or two mail trucks on the road from Dublin to Portlaoise tonight. As a result, substantial sorting and onward distribution will take place at the Portlaoise hub during the course of the night. We all remember the mail trains which have been replaced by trucks because the improved road network makes it more efficient and faster to move mail from Dublin to Cork, Limerick, Galway or Sligo by road at night.

I ask the Minister to express his views on the future of the An Post mail centre in Portlaoise. I believe it has a great future as it is in an excellent strategic location. It should be developed and strengthened. I compliment An Post on taking a proactive approach to the future role of its distribution centres. The Portlaoise mail centre should be an example for all others to follow.

I recently met representatives of the Communications Workers Union who I understand met other Deputies from the area. I hope and expect the Minister will confirm that he had a positive discussion about this matter with my constituency colleague, the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Charlie Flanagan, who I understand has been in direct contact with the Minister or An Post management. I look forward to hearing the Minister's response on the matter.

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