Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

This is a real blow to rural communities, to pensioners and to people who are dependent on social welfare. It is the biggest cull of post office services in the history of the State - 159 closures, effectively in one fell swoop. The post office in Allihies has been mentioned as one of the post offices in County Cork that will be closed. The nearest post office to people living in this area is now 10.9 km away, which makes it difficult for people with disabilities or people who do not drive to avail of the postal service.

The media tonight are trying to say that the movement to resist post office closures is on the wane and they are pointing to the size of the protest outside Leinster House today. The protest outside today was not at all insignificant, given it is a working day, given the ploughing championships and so on. A more accurate picture of the level of resistance to these post office closures is shown by the size and scale of the protest meetings being held in communities throughout rural Ireland. I received correspondence from a community campaigning to save its local post office in Gurteen, County Tipperary. Some 500 people attended the public meeting in opposition to that closure, which is an indication of the level of resistance.

There is talk of a general election in the air: "Will Leo roll the dice?", "Will Leo not roll the dice?" and so on. There are a number of issues the Taoiseach would need to be mindful of if he is considering going down that road. The biggest one nationally is housing, whereby people will vote for change and vote against the Government. In rural Ireland, however, the post office issue is a real issue which poses dangers for the Government and it will ignore those communities and their wishes at its peril.

Post office services, first and foremost, should be provided on the basis of the needs of communities and the people who live in those communities, rather than on a break-even basis. That is my belief; it is a socialist, left opinion. It is clearly not an opinion that is shared by the Government but it is also not shared by other parties in this House because the decline in the post office infrastructure has taken place under both Fianna Fáil-led and Fine Gael-led Governments - right-wing government that turns its back on the idea of providing a service for a community and instead looks at it in terms of pounds, shillings and pence.

To look at post office services a little more broadly, but in a way that is very relevant to this debate, back in 2011, after examining the effects of opening the postal service to the free market in mainland Europe, the Communication Workers Union was able to predict widespread job losses, a severe strain on the universal service obligation and a decline in the quality and level of postal services. What is happening at the moment has to be seen in light of those points. I would also make the point that in addition to recent closures and job losses, An Post employees have also experienced wage reductions over the last few years which have resulted in savings of €100 million. We need to learn from the experience in this country and internationally. Cutbacks in postal services and privatisation of essential services are a total failure for customers, for working people and for the communities they serve.

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