Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Government wants a post office network which is extensive enough that everyone will be within reasonable distance of a post office, which we believe can be achieved. However, the network must also be viable. The best way to ensure that it is extensive and remains so is that it is viable. The Government does not close post offices. In most cases, postmasters are retiring and are accepting retirement packages they have negotiated with An Post, which is a semi-State company. In many cases, there is no one willing to take on that contract because it is not viable. Where it is viable, the post office will remain open and if there is a shop or other service nearby which is willing to take it over, that will be considered. It is not just being left up to An Post, there is an independent review mechanism to assess viability.

Times are changing and we need to reflect on that and be realistic. Footfall at our post offices is decreasing. There are many fewer unemployed people in rural Ireland and, as a consequence, there are fewer people collecting jobseeker's payments from their post offices. More people who retire do not collect their pensions from post offices. Instead, they have it paid directly into their bank accounts because that is how they had been paid over previous decades. As we extend broadband to more rural areas, more people will access public services, bank and pay for their television licences and motor tax online. The solutions which are often put forward can be contradictory because the more we extend services such as broadband to rural areas, the fewer people use the post offices. We need to be realistic about these things.

When it comes to investing in rural Ireland, it is important that we invest in the technologies of the future which is why we are so committed to ensuring that the national broadband plan happens, why we launched the rural fund on Friday last, which will be major investment in improving the public realm in rural Ireland and modernising our towns and villages so that they are more attractive for people to live in, and investing in enterprise and tourism so that we can bring new jobs to rural Ireland. The best way we can give rural Ireland a good future is by investing in new technologies, jobs and services.

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