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

-----to make a decision about State companies that we rightly say should be run independently for the benefit of the public, their workers and the customers they serve.

The Government does not in any way countenance a reduction of services from five-day delivery, on which this and previous Governments have insisted. That is the obligation of An Post. The Deputy has to recognise that any company that wants to survive must accept that what customers want is changing. A company that continues to do what it has always done and refuses to look at what would copperfasten its future will not survive for very long. At one stage An Post was looking down the barrel of this reality and restructured. I agree absolutely that this is a very disappointing day for the workers in Cork who have been exemplary in their service. Nonetheless, it is an important part of a process by which the company will become strong for the future. The 1,000 people who work for the company in Cork can know that the company will sustain their livelihoods based on a sound business model. That is the other side of it; the company is doing what is in the long-term interests of its workers and customers.

See this speech in context