Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We need a bit of common sense. I invite the Minister of State and the Minister, Deputy Bruton, to come to Kilcar to see, listen and talk to the people and businesses that use the service all the time. People are employed by businesses that are trying to build up what is a rural Gaeltacht area, but they see the State taking services away from them. The suggestion made by Deputy Gallagher is one that needs to be actioned as soon as possible. We need to talk face to face with the Minister and to do so quickly as the post office is to close in the next couple of days, although there is no reason whatsoever for it to close. This falls outside the agreement between the Irish Postmasters Union and An Post. The voluntary redundancies have happened. We were told that they were to secure the network, but now another post office is to close. How many other post offices will close if this is the carry-on by An Post while the Government sits on its hands? The spin it puts on it, that any community with 500 or more people will have a postal service, is nonsense. Kilcar has a population of more than 1,000. The way in which the Government calculates the figure is completely disingenuous and amounts to nothing more than spin. We need an extension of time, a meeting with the Minister and him to visit the area in order that the Government can get a feel of what it really means and what it is doing to the area in pulling out the heart of this rural community.

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