Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to raise this important matter with the Minister. I want him to halt the relocation of the post office in Mountmellick from O'Connell Square to Connolly Street. The relocation will have a huge impact on the town centre. It is not just in Mountmellick that this happening; it is also being done in Thurles, where the post office is being moved from Liberty Square to a shopping centre on the outer fringes of the town. Its current location adjacent to the square is perfect. and there is loads of parking available. I have never driven into that square and been unable to find a parking space. The square is suitable for pedestrians, particularly elderly people who would have to travel from the likes of Wolfe Tone Court, Emmett Terrace, Chapel Street, Twomey Terrace and other parts of the town.

An Post has stated that it is making this move to provide a modern service and that moving to a new location means it can provide more facilities. I am of the view that it could have modernised the existing service on offer in the current post office - because there is loads of space there - rather than taking the option of moving to another premises. There are also other options available on the square in Mountmellick. There are other retailers there that have substantial floor space available and that are willing to take this on.

The Government makes many claims and makes much play of putting the heart back in town centres and regenerating our small and medium-sized towns. I welcome this as a good policy and Sinn Féin supports it. However, what we have here is that one arm of Government is effectively doing and saying one thing while the other, namely, the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment through An Post, is doing the complete opposite. The irony is that An Post is using money provided by the Government for the modernisation programme to carry out these so-called modernisation moves and, as a result, the taxpayer is funding the destruction of town centres such as that in Mountmellick.

I want this to halt. I want the Minister to press the pause button on this so that it can be looked at in more detail and scrutinised. He should not allow what is proposed to proceed immediately in its current form.

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