Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The wholesale closure of post offices across the country is a fundamental attack on rural Ireland and the people who live in it. I recognise that there has been a fall-off in the usage of post offices. Some Ministers, however, are blaming communities because they do not use them. How ridiculous is that? Life has changed and some people make their transactions online. The Minister and the Government need to accept this. However, the fact that fewer people utilise post office services should not be used as a ruse to close them. It effectively says to the elderly and vulnerable that they, as well as their needs and expectations, are not really important and do not matter to the Government. Instead, the Minister is asking them to travel 15 km to join a queue to give their business to somebody else and make it viable. That is not what public service is about. The reality is that the State has a responsibility to provide public services as close as possible to the people who need them - the elderly, the infirm and those with the greatest need in society. It is incumbent on the Government to retain these services in the community. It can be done at reduced cost and by co-locating post office services with existing businesses. That would support them and ensure services would be maintained, particularly the delivery of social welfare payments to the elderly and the most vulnerable at a location close to where they live. The Minister needs to rethink and stop robbing Peter to pay Paul by closing one post office to make another viable. That is making meal of one and fish of the other.

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