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

I thank Deputy Harty for raising this important issue. I am acutely conscious of the value that is placed by communities, both urban and rural, on services provided by the post offices. As the Deputy knows, I am committed not only to protecting the post office network but to ensuring that the services provided within the network are improved and expanded. In fact, to prove that commitment, at the end of last year the Government gave €30 million in State funding to An Post - €15 million to support the renewal of the post office network and €15 million to protect the five-day a week mail delivery service. The company is now planning to invest €50 million in growing and modernising the network in the coming years.

I accept that the company and the post office network face huge challenges. However, the fact the network is spread throughout the country, in every single parish and community, provides us with a unique opportunity. I fundamentally disagree with the Deputy that moving services online and through digital will lead to the closure of the post office network. In fact, I believe that is the key to the survival of the post office network. To take, for example, banking services, we have seen how all of the major banks move out of rural communities and force people to go online. There is now an opportunity for the post office network to provide a counter service to those people who either do not want to use the online option or are not able to use it. There is active discussion at the moment between An Post and the commercial banks in respect of providing those services in every post office. An Post intends to go further and provide a real banking choice to people throughout the country and it is currently in negotiations to provide enhanced and improved financial services within the network.

I agree with the Deputy that there is a challenge and that there has been inertia within Government in the context of moving services through the post office network. While we have to be conscious of the procurement process involved in that, there is a commitment from the Minister of State, Deputy Seán Kyne, and the Ministers for Rural and Community Development and Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Deputies Michael Ring and Regina Doherty. We have renewed the social welfare contract and while it has reduced, thankfully, as fewer people are relying on social welfare and the number in employment has increased, nonetheless, there is an opportunity to provide an offline avenue for people to access Government services. That is why, working with the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Deputy Ring, with an allocation of €80,000, we now have a digital assist pilot scheme in ten post offices throughout the country, whereby we can provide Government online services through an offline platform with the local post office. As I said, ten post offices have initially been selected by the IPU at the following locations: Austin Friar Street, Mullingar, County Westmeath; Ballaghaderreen, County Roscommon; Bandon, County Cork; Buncrana, County Donegal; Claremorris, County Mayo; Dingle, County Kerry; Loughboy, County Kilkenny; Oranmore, County Galway; Portarlington, County Laois; and Tubercurry, County Sligo. We intend to provide an offline avenue for Government services through those ten post offices and, based on our learning from that, to expand it right across the country, bringing Government services as close as possible to a one-stop-shop mechanism.

We are also committing, through the negotiations we have had with the IPU and given the 80% endorsement by IPU members, that there will be no compulsory closures of post offices across the country. We are working with colleagues to put more Government services, including motor tax, through the post office network and to use digital platforms as a mechanism to provide many more such services locally.

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