Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

We have been debating An Post and its dilemma for some time in these Chambers, usually in the context of small rural post offices closing. I remember a time when there was a big row in this House about which Minister was responsible, whether it was the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, the Minister for Rural and Community Development or the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. It is like a football that has been kicked around from Department to Department without anyone ever really getting a hold on what was happening. This has been happening for a long time.

The main argument has been that the financial position of the company was on a knife-edge and that it needed to cut jobs. It instigated pay freezes at one stage and it was argued that the closure of rural post offices was essential. This seems to be hinted at as the justification of the closure of Little Island with the loss of 240 jobs. When one looks at the facts, one sees that since the Labour Court recommendation in 2017, the company recently announced that a revenue of €897 million in 2018, an increase of 7% on the previous year. During the last Christmas period, we saw a substantial increase in mail volume, with parcel volumes increasing by 50% from the previous year, with 100,000 postal deliveries a day and record sales of postage stamps. We see continued growth in parcel and e-deliveries. I think that a Sinn Féin Deputy mentioned that in a city which is meant to double its population over the coming period, this seems like a crazy planning decision which the Minister should look at again. It certainly is not climate-proofed. As has been said by several Deputies, the distances that trucks etc. will have to travel without this mail delivery centre do not do anything for the competency of the company or for the possibility of reducing our carbon emissions.

I do not think it is a narrow decision made on a commercial basis. We can blow that out of the water. There was a Labour Court recommendation in which there was agreement with the unions that a centre would close. It is extraordinary when one looks at Athlone and Portlaoise, with only 32 miles between them, that a political decision was made to close Cork. That is not to argue that any of them should close; I would argue that we should keep all three open. This company has turned a corner and we have just gone through the figures to show how. In addition, we also have a company with a history where, at the very moment that parcel deliveries were taking off, it closed the SDS centre on the Naas Road. It seems to have a history of making ill-judged and badly-timed decisions about its business. We are on the cusp of doing something about broadband. The Minister, Deputy Bruton, and Minister of State, Deputy Canney, sitting opposite us have consistently said that we need this and will not do without it. They have said that rural broadband will be delivered come hell or high water. If we are to deliver rural broadband on the scale envisaged and for people to have access to it to buy online, surely the volume in parcel deliveries will increase even more. Consider the distance that those parcel vans will have to travel.

The closure of the rural post offices has had a devastating effect on towns and villages. The closure of Little Island will have a devastating effect on the decent, unionised, pensionable jobs that the population there can enjoy. I have no confidence in the proposal that a jobs fair or redeployment scheme will protect the lifestyle, wages and income of those workers. We may see many of them being forced into precarious non-unionised and low-paid jobs because that is the economy that we are living in. Instead, this Government should subsidise An Post with an amount that will keep it alive and vibrant. This would keep pensionable jobs that allow people to spend money that goes back into the economy. It is not rocket science. What is going on here is that people are being told to move over and make way for the great lord, competition. If any company wants to set up and compete with An Post on the same scale, this Government will facilitate it to do so, as it has done in facilitating every aspect of competition. We want to see the workers in Little Island protected and their jobs ring-fenced. I do not have the same level of confidence that some Deputies seem to enjoy in the union. After all, it did the deal and instead of fighting to keep those jobs when the economy has been turned around, it has been much too silent on the issue.

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