Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Is that not the point? We do not know which of the centres was the most efficient. We have not had sight of the McKinsey report so we do not know for sure which of the centres was the least efficient. This was a political decision. I believe An Post went for the political path of least resistance. The Cork mails centre was sacrificed on the altar on that basis. I was hoping that in Government circles there would have been a greater degree of resistance by those at Cabinet and that there would have been some fight for Cork. That has not been the case, as it transpires.

I will make a prediction. I forecast that this is the beginning of the end of the universal service obligation and the five-day delivery service. We are starting to get rid of mails centres and post offices and that is clothed in the pretence of investment in the General Post Office, GPO, on Oliver Plunkett Street and a new delivery unit being opened in Skibbereen. Those are all welcome changes but they are piecemeal. The structural long-term objective of An Post is to go down to a three, a two or even a one-day delivery service in certain parts of the country. That is where we are heading and that has to be called out. If we do not stand up for jobs in Cork and for what could be a viable business, which could operate at capacity, on the basis of the argument that An Post itself makes regarding a significant rise in parcels volumes, then I think that is bad day for the postal service in this country.

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