Séamus Healy (Tipperary, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

I confirm my support for this Private Members' motion on the future of the post office network. This issue raises the whole question of democracy in this country and the relevance of this Dáil. The motion passed here in November 2016, agreed unanimously by the House, meant - or should mean - that the post office network would be supported and improved and that, as the motion stated, "a five-year holding plan will be put in place while these changes are being implemented or there will be no network left to salvage". The House unanimously agreed this motion in November 2016, including the Minister, the Fine Gael Party and every other party and every Independent in this House.

What is the relevance of Dáil Éireann if a motion unanimously accepted by the House is simply thrown aside and An Post carries on as if it never happened? Surely the Minister has something to say about that. Surely this Dáil has something to say about that. We are here as Teachtaí Dála, the messengers of the people, and we all voted here unanimously in November 2016 to support the post office network and to ensure that nothing would happen for a period of five years until the network was built up and established, yet no one takes a blind bit of notice of this, including the Minister, the Government and An Post. One would wonder what is the point of us being here at all.

I thank and compliment the postmaster in Kishkeam, who has refused to take the package, stood up for his local community and said this is a step too far. There is no question but that he is absolutely correct in that, and I applaud him for his leadership in the community. There is no financial necessity for the closures we are seeing, and it should be remembered that the closures are only the beginning. David McRedmond, the CEO of An Post, told us very recently that in 2018 it would make a minimum of €20 million profit and possibly closer to €30 million. This was on top of a profit of €8.4 million in 2017. There is therefore absolutely no reason whatever from a financial point of view for these closures.

The postal service is a public service, not a commercial operation. This means that making profit is not the priority of An Post; providing a public service is its priority. This in turn means that if An Post needs to be subvented by the State, that should be done because there is an obligation on the State to provide public services, including postal services, to local communities. There is no doubt but that it is time to cry halt to this. The Minister, the Government and An Post will not accept the will of the people, the will of this Dáil. We now have 159 post offices closing, and 390 will effectively close over a period if the plan goes ahead. In my constituency we have eight closures in Clogheen, Ballingarry, Templetuohy, Littleton, Newcastle, Coolbaun and Upperchurch. Many of these post offices have more than 500 residents in the area. As everyone here knows, the local post office is the heart and soul of the local community, of local towns and villages, not just from an economic point of view, but also from a social point of view, which is very important. Local communities look to the weekly visit to the post office to keep in touch with everything that goes on in the community.

Many such towns and villages already have lost Garda stations and banks and if they lose the post office, there will be knock-on effects on the local shop, café and hairdresser because if people are not collecting their social welfare payments at the post office, they will not do their other business in the local village either. It is incumbent on the Minister and on this Dáil to ensure that this is reversed immediately.

See this speech in context