Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the fact that Deputy Fleming has raised the issue, which I know is of acute concern to many people. Last week in the Dáil, the Deputy may have heard somebody else raising the case of one of the other mail sorting centres. The Deputy is an experienced committee Chair and I have soldiered with him on some of them.

He is very aware of the legal position, namely, that this is the responsibility of An Post.

I apologise in advance for the reference in the script to the Deputy suggesting that I should intervene. I do not believe he suggested that. I withdraw that sentence in the script even though I will not be delivering it. The House is well aware of the journey An Post has been on. There has been a 40% fall in mail deliveries and an 8% fall in them even this year. An Post must restructure its business. It came close to a melt down a few years ago and it had to undertake a major restructuring plan. Part of that, as the Deputy will be aware, has been a new deal with its employees, which involved a pay increase but also involved, as a part of that, that one of its mail centres would close, but that this choice would be made on the basis of what is in the best interests of the company, its employees and customers. That continues to be the case. An Post is acutely aware of the important regional role it plays and it will carefully weigh up this decision.

I would also like to acknowledge publicly in the House the success An Post and its employees have brought to the task of restructuring. It has built from scratch new areas of business, particularly in parcel delivery but also in new retail areas, financial services and so on. That is a testimony to the creativity of the company with it being able not only to stabilise its business but show significant operating profit this year. However, ultimately, it still has to continue the work of restructuring its business and building in the new areas of growth and unfortunately that means it still has to restructure the mail sorting offices, which are part of that pay deal and part of the journey it is on.

The Deputy has made an articulate case for the merits of the office in Portlaoise for which he has advocated. I am sure the company will be mindful of the case being made by public representatives in its evaluation of this decision, but it rests with the board and not with me as Minister. That is as it should be. People would be rightly offended if this decision was to be made by a Minister deciding between different mail sorting centres, not on the basis of what is in the best interests of that company building its employment base and its customer base but on the basis of some political calculation. I have faith in the board, the members of which I and my predecessors have appointed, and I believe it will make this decision in the best interests of the company, its workers and the customers it serves.

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