Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That strategic review has been completed for some time now. An Post, through various different guises, has begun a process of closing post offices. Some are closing because, quite frankly, the level of transactions based on the current business model is not enough to sustain the employment of a postmaster or postmistress. They just cannot make ends meet and are being forced out by stealth. Others are closing when the end of the contract period is reached or on the death of the postmaster or postmistress.

What we need is Government intervention. The Minister talks about the importance of a wide area network and a sustainable network. However, the nature of the changes that are happening in the transactions that are taking place in post offices means that they are no longer viable in the way they were in the past. It will require Government intervention if we are to retain the network to the broadest extent possible to serve communities. I do not believe anything the Minister has said will give any confidence to the communities who believe their post office is under threat.

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