Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That is why there was huge excitement when the Minister was promoted to his position. It was because of his understanding of the issues and where he comes from and what he is. The criticism is not yet of him, but the reality is that as a Minister with responsibility for An Post, the delivery of Government services through same is within his gift. This is why it is critical at this particular juncture that we accept we can no longer allow the postal service to dwindle. We had 345 post office closures between 2004 and 2010 and 24 net closures between 2011 and 2014. Since March 2014, 16 post offices have closed, which is 1.4% of the overall network. Since 1998 almost 1,000 contracted post offices have closed. There has been a continual reduction of the number of the post offices. We can understand there is not the demand for what was there previously because of the changes in how we live and technological advancements but, at the same time, if we go below a critical mass the postal service will just diminish and will be unable to deliver any form of service. We have to stop and arrest that decline and reverse it with investment in services through An Post.

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