Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

While post office closures constitute an issue which will massively affect rural communities, they are also an issue in my own urban constituency in Rialto where I have worked with people to prevent the closures. We heard recently that Bluebell post office could be under threat with the retirement of a postmaster. I have been in contact with An Post, which is trying to get that out for tender now. There is always the difficulty of rent prices. The question therefore arises as to how the Government should supply services according to need and what sort of intervention should take place to provide those services. Many of our vital local services are under threat today, whether it is post office or bus services, in rural and urban areas. We have a Government which is fixated on the notion that market forces, the private sector and profits constitute the only way to provide the services people need for a decent life. We need only look at the housing crisis to see where this fixation has led.

It is now ten years since the great financial crash of 2008 when a banking system obsessed with huge profits, speculation, bonuses and favoured clients, such as big property developers, brought the country to its knees. Another crash is entirely possible and being spoken about internationally. I do not feel confident at all that things have changed in the world of "too big to fail" private banks. That is the reality. We need an alternative way to do things which acknowledges a right to housing and affordable and efficient public transport. There is a right to live in viable and sustainable communities in urban and rural settings. Central to such an alternative must be the idea of public not-for-profit banking. This is where the failure is. I saw the statement from the Irish Postmasters Union saying that community banking is not a panacea for the challenges faced by the post office network, but in my view it would play a crucial role in maintaining the post office network if public banking were brought into it. Public banking is a sensible and completely workable proposal for an alternative banking system. It has been working successfully in Germany as we know, having had representatives from the German community banking sector in Leinster House speaking to Members in committee.

I ask Fianna Fáil what its criteria were for closing almost 752 post offices during its time in power. The party has challenged the Minister here as to what his criteria are. We must maintain these services in our communities. This issue is the needs of our elderly and people who want to use alternative banking. That is what we should be addressing. It would work successfully and I hope the Minister will introduce it.

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