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

A clear protocol has been put in place regarding any post office that is to be considered for closure. It will be the postmaster who will initially decide whether they want to take that road. If they do want to take that road, there is a mechanism to look at alternative options, including whether there are other businesses in the community that are willing to take it on.

To give practical examples, there is one case where there are two post offices within 700 yd. of each other.

There are many examples around the country of the community bypassing its local post office and going somewhere else to avail of post office services. They are the practical examples of what is happening and Deputy Harty knows them as I do. We need to be realistic about this.

The post office is an essential part of the community and that is why I want to put more government services through it. We need to reform the existing contract which goes back to 1907. It is not fit for purpose today and no one can say that it is. We have a new contract and active negotiations across Government on putting in new services. We have active negotiations with An Post about putting new and very different banking services into post offices across the country. It will take time and it is frustrating that we have not got the full package of services in place immediately but we have to take a step-by-step approach to this. My initial priority was to keep the doors of An Post open. The company nearly closed after I took over as Minister. One of the first proposals put in front of me was to reduce the five-day week postal service which I was not prepared to tolerate. We have an agreement with postmasters and the Government for the first time has put cash into the post office network, which had not been done in the past and we intend to put real services through the post office network, which has not been done before. Previous Governments have paid lip service to the post office network. There have been significant closures but now we are putting a clear plan and future in place and a clear plan to put new services into the post office network. I am determined to ensure that happens in reality.

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