Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Across Donegal, there are 17 post office closures. Galway and Donegal have the greatest number of closures nationally. In Donegal, one has Dunkineely, Brinlack, Bunbeg, Burtonport and numerous others will close. It is the responsibility of the Minister and An Post that those closures are taking place and they are doing nothing to ensure the survival of the remaining post offices. There will be further closures over the coming years in response to which the Minister will wring his hands and say he did his best to roll out services. I do not believe he has done his best or that the best has been done for post offices.

Deputy Connolly outlined how An Post could be an alternative banking model. It is perfectly feasible and could be done if An Post was willing. I sat on the committee last week when the head of An Post said no one came to him. Why did he not go out and speak to people? He is responsible for maintaining the service and he should be going out and speaking to people. The Government has divided itself from An Post in order to keep a separation which allows it to say there is nothing it can do because its role relates only to governance, not to day-to-day operations or the closure of services. The Government has failed An Post and the service will be failed further because it will not be allowed to develop.

Fianna Fáil presided over the closure of 460 post offices. The least we can say for the Government is that it has put together a plan, although it is a failed one. Fianna Fáil simply closes post offices. Both parties are cut from the same cloth because as long as An Post is required to be independent and to tender services on a financial basis, we will see the decline of rural Ireland. We have to make our post offices a centre for communities. Only then will we see post offices developing. That is what is important.

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