Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We have heard all this before. I accept that the Minister of State is only standing in for the Minister but his reply was frankly rubbish. I have spoken to Mr. McRedmond and the chairman, Mr. Divilly. Their credibility is on the line. The decision is symbolic, An Post is going against Government policy, and the finances of the decision just do not work, as I have outlined. It makes no sense and the taxpayer is losing big time - hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of euro. The real issue is that An Post made a bad decision and cannot back down. It does not want to set a precedent but it did the same in Ballinskelligs, County Kerry. It was going to close that post office but there was an independent review, it reconsidered the matter, and - holy smoke - the post office is still open. I will visit it this weekend because it is run by my niece, the youngest postmistress in Ireland, who is 22 years of age. An Post got that decision wrong, considered what the community and local representatives said, and it reversed the decision.

It must do the same in the case of the post office in question. I call on Deputy Lowry, Fine Gael representatives and everyone else who supports the Government to ensure that An Post does the same in Thurles as it did in Ballinskelligs.

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