Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

Before moving on to the main issues I will start by referring to two small points that came up in the course of the debate. The Minister was asked about the McKinsey report. He seemed to indicate that there was no such report. He indicated that McKinsey had been involved in the process since 2016 and had been working with An Post but there was not a report, as such. That is a very surprising and an interesting development because the McKinsey report has been spoken about and batted back and forth quite a bit recently. For the first time we have an indication that it may not exist. I ask the Minister to clarify that point after the debate. Perhaps the media might be interested in asking about it as well.

More importantly, we learn of a second report, the Accenture report, which Deputy Micheál Martin got to glance at when he met the CEO of the company yesterday. That report should be made public. There should be no secret report when we are looking at the future of An Post and the future of the Cork mail centre and 240 jobs. The Minister should publish the report.

I can report to the House that An Post has been invited to come in here next Wednesday, 10 July from 9 a.m. to 12 noon to answer questions at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment on this and other issues. An Post must take up that invitation and not refuse it and try to be out the gap for the summer. We will put pressure on An Post to do that. We want to question it about this.

In terms of the more substantive issues. The Minister said that this was not a short-term decision. It flies in the face of all the information and data that have been given in the course of this debate about the boom in parcel deliveries. The argument has been made that Cork was chosen instead of another mail centre because it might be easier to redeploy staff in Cork. I do not believe that the welfare of the staff was a serious consideration in the matter. I believe that the key consideration was that An Post felt it could get serious money from the sale of the building and the site.

Rather than retaining an asset, it felt it could strip assets and opt for a short-term quick buck at a time when parcel delivery is booming and when the building could be extremely valuable to the company.

The Minister stated that the company intends to invest €15 million in parcel delivery and hubs in Cork over the next couple of years. That is an important point. There is speculation as to where the site might be. Will it be in Ballincollig, Carrigtwohill or, perhaps, Watergrasshill? More important, what will be the wages of the workers in the hub? What will be the conditions of those workers? What will happen if staff lose their jobs in the Cork mail centre and end up working in the hubs? Will they carry over their wages and conditions? I am of the view that it is the intention of An Post to drive down wages and alter workers' conditions. This must be seen in the context of an attempt to organise a race to the bottom.

Deputy Coppinger raised extremely important points on the potential of the workers to resist the closure and push back against it. She raised the fact that there is likely to be a by-election in Cork in the next six months and possibly a general election shortly thereafter. She rightly stated that represents an opportunity to the workers. At a mass meeting attended by all the workers and their families, as well as An Post workers from throughout the Cork region, a clear message could be given to the Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil representatives in attendance that they should reverse the decision quickly or there will not be a single vote for them or their parties from a mail centre worker or An Post worker, or a member of their families, in the Cork region, be it in the by-election or general election. One should remember that An Post workers deliver mail through letter boxes and have the ability to put messages through letterboxes in that regard.

The workers have industrial power. They have the ability to withdraw their labour. There needs to be a united approach involving the workers in Athlone, Portlaoise, Dublin and Cork. Someone said it was a good day for the workers in Athlone when they learned Athlone would not be affected. It was not a good day for them. It is a bad day for every mail centre worker and every An Post worker if one of the centres - it is Cork in this case - is to close. If Cork is closed more easily, the company will target Portlaoise and Athlone more easily. Maybe the vision of An Post is to have one centre for mail and parcels, heavily automated and with workers on lower wages and with poorer conditions. It is in the interest of all mail centre and An Post workers to resist this.

The idea of strike action by united mail centre workers and An Post workers, first, perhaps, in the Cork area and involving a one-day stoppage, would send a very clear message to An Post management, the political establishment and big parties in the run-up to a by-election.

There are important votes on these issues tomorrow. I want to make a few points about this. The Government is opposing the motion and tabling an amendment supporting the closure. That is what I expected it to do. I will not comment on that. Let me consider the Labour Party. Deputy Sherlock stated that there is no economic justification for closure. I agree with him 100%. If he believes that, he should withdraw his party's amendment. The effect of the Labour Party amendment is to take out of the motion the only sentence stating the closure must be opposed and stopped and that influence must be brought to bear on An Post to stop it. Why would one support an amendment that takes that sentence out of the motion if one believes there is no economic justification for the closure? Deputy Sherlock is not present but he will be watching the debate. I appeal to him to withdraw the Labour Party amendment if he believes that there is no economic justification for the closure. If the Labour Party does not withdraw its amendment, I shall appeal to all other Deputies who are not in government, including those in Fianna Fáil, to vote for the Solidarity motion and put pressure on the Government to put pressure on An Post to prevent the closure and save the 240 jobs. I ask mail centre and An Post workers in Little Island, Cork and beyond to contact their public representatives tonight and appeal to them to vote in support of this motion tomorrow. Fianna Fáil holds the balance on this vote. If it votes one way, the motion will be rejected. If it votes the other way, the motion will be carried. Fianna Fáil must support this motion tomorrow and oppose the closure of the Cork mail centre. Mail centre workers and An Post workers should make their views known tonight in this regard. I do not believe that a majority vote by the Dáil will resolve this matter. The Government has made clear already that it will attempt to ignore it. The opposition to the mail centre that can be most effective is the workers themselves organising to stop the closure but I am in favour of giving them the moral authority of a majority vote in the Dáil to say the national Parliament supports what my party is doing and that it is opposed to closure. That is how the national Parliament must vote tomorrow. If Deputies do not vote for this motion, this debate will have been nothing but hot air and words. We need to see some concrete support tomorrow.

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