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

I am not in the business of undermining An Post and the Dáil record of my years in the House will clearly show this. In fact, I am one of the six of the 266 Members of the Oireachtas who bothered to make a submission to the Kerr report when it was sought at the time. I made it crystal clear there will be no compulsory post office closures in this country. Viable post offices cannot close unless there is an opportunity for someone else to take over the business. Where postmasters or postmistresses want to take the package on offer, and there are other retailers in the community willing to take on the operation, they will be given consideration to do this. My objective as Minister is to ensure that as much work as possible goes through the post office network and the control I have as a Government Minister is over Government services. I want the post office to be the offline avenue for all online Government services, including motor tax, passports, and whatever the case may be. We must remember that one in seven people in this country have never used the Internet. They should not be excluded from availing of the efficiencies of online services.

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