Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The employees of the mail centre at Little Island were called into a meeting late on Wednesday night and given the hammer blow that many of them feared. Many of them were deeply worried, indeed heartbroken, and having given ten, 20 or 30 years of service to An Post, they feel let down. The way they were treated by the company was extremely shabby.

I could speak about this issue and many other issues for 20 minutes but I have only two minutes' speaking time. One of the issues that needs to be cleared up is the possibility that employees aged over 60 may not be entitled to full severance of six weeks per year worked capped at two years' pay and declining on a sliding scale. They are potentially being placed in a disadvantageous position.

The Minister stated that staff can take a severance package or be redeployed. The hours worked and the nature of individuals' duties and abilities mean it will not be possible to redeploy many of them. What will happen if there are not enough positions available elsewhere for those who opt for redeployment instead of the severance package? Will those who cannot be redeployed be made redundant? I have asked this question previously. The Minister and An Post should state that no one will be subject to mandatory redundancy. Positions should be made available for all staff who want to continue working for An Post.

The bottom line is that the mail centre should be kept open. The decision to close it is crazy and makes no sense. The McKinsey and Accenture reports should be published. It could be argued that the McKinsey report is a little out of date but my experience in this institution is that if the Government does not like the findings of a report, it puts in place another process, changes the criteria and ends up with a different outcome.

Government Ministers are claiming credit for the Portlaoise mail centre staying open. It needs to be clarified whether they had a part in this process.

I acknowledge the meeting between Deputy Micheál Martin and the chief executive of An Post but this issue has been in the ether for two years. An Post should have been told before now that it was not right to close the centre. Other Deputies did that and raised the matter in the House.

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