Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the work done by people like Debbie Byrne, who is in charge of promoting more retail through our post offices, and David McRedmond. The Tánaiste claimed there are no compulsory closures. He is 100% correct. However, over the past two days, 390 letters went to post offices around the country, out of which 26 went to post offices in County Kerry. If 26 small factories were being offered a closure package in County Kerry, there would be outrage. Even if half or ten of those post offices took up the offer, it would be an awful loss to those communities. It will tear the heart and the soul out of our communities in which we want to keep people living. The same has happened in Donegal, Limerick, Clare and all over the country.

Quite simply, the Government is not acting quickly enough to save the post office network. We cannot blame a postmaster for availing of these packages if their footfall is going down because not enough customers are going into their post office. If they see no way out of it, they will accept it and they will close. Once a post office is gone, it is gone forever. It is in the programme for Government. Will the Tánaiste do more and do it quickly to save as many post offices as we can and not allow them to close?

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