Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his reply and acknowledge that he has come to the House to outline the position on An Post. We all understand the company is in a serious position, with a decline in activity, especially in the area to which the Minister referred. I am a little concerned by his comment that Government policy is to offer services online and that this is likely to be the default option. He stated that in the meantime An Post will have an important role to play as an offline gateway. He has sounded the death knell for the company by stating it will have a temporary role. He is effectively saying the moment broadband is rolled out, the need for An Post services will be substantially diminished. This is a negative view of the company's future. Essentially, according to the Minister, An Post will become redundant if everyone can do his or her business online. He must take a much more imaginative approach to the future development of the company. He has adopted a traditional way of looking at the company, which is not one that would allow a modern business to succeed. I hope An Post is not planning to fail because, if so, it most surely will. If that is the policy the company has in mind, the Minister's role is to shake that idea out of management heads and ensure they will think of the services the company will provide in the decades ahead, rather than bemoaning current changes.

While the Portlaoise mail centre is a national hub for onward distribution to all other major locations, it also deals with local mail deliveries. It covers counties Laois, Offaly, Kildare, Kilkenny, Carlow, Wexford and Tipperary and parts of counties Wicklow and Waterford. It is responsible for a large amount of local distributions, in addition to its onward distribution activities. As I stated, it is responsible for distributing approximately 18,000 parcels nationwide every night, including 5,000 in the catchment area I set out.

The Minister will appreciate, given his reference to the Athlone centre, that the Portlaoise mail centre is a great employer in the region. Some 200 people work in it, including approximately 50 who work in the parcels section which must be a growth area, given the current discussion about increased online shopping.

There are couriers delivering-----

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