Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I want to put on the record of the House my gratitude to the Tánaiste and his Department officials for their assistance with very serious issues over the past weeks and months. As always, the Tánaiste was very proactive and work-person-like in carrying out his duties.

I also want to raise the issue of post offices. I want to declare an interest in this as I am a postmaster of a very small post office in a rural area. I wish to highlight the fact that it is detrimental to those post offices that our transactions have been further cut by not being able to process passports. I remind the Tánaiste that people are getting their payments for two weeks in the one payment, while post offices are paid on a per transaction basis. As the Tánaiste knows, post offices were struggling enough already before any of this ever happened. It was difficult enough for them to make ends meet. Now they are after losing half their business. For example, if a pensioner was collecting the pension every week, the post office was getting paid on that transaction every week. Now that is halved because they are getting paid for one transaction per fortnight, as there are two payments in the one week. Post offices have seen a massive decline in the revenue that they are getting. They have their costs to meet and wages to pay. It is very difficult at present.

I do not just want to see passport processing being given back to the post offices through Passport Express.

We must also try to enhance the services we already have and allow for further business to be channelled through our post offices. This can be done. Every post office is set up with computers and there are excellent staff working in every post office up and down the length and breadth of this country. It is not just rural offices that are affected. Urban post offices are also affected. I know of post offices in built up areas that are struggling to earn a week's wages. I want to put my shoulder to the wheel on that.

I refer to the emergency passport service, which was always excellent, was never misused and was used only by people who had urgent accidents, personal issues or deaths abroad where people found themselves without a passport. The people in the Passport Office out the back of Merrion Square could not be praised or complimented enough for the excellent service they provided when people were genuinely in urgent need of a passport. I also want to see that service opened up as soon as possible in compliance with all regulations and when it is safe to do so.

We need to get our legs under ourselves again with the matter of travel. The song "Flight of Earls" says: "Those big aeroplanes go both ways" and I am talking about people being able to come to Ireland and to leave Ireland in order to get the economy moving, to get people moving and to get money spent again as soon as possible. We need to give clear direction on that. I raised the issue of the Black Lives Matter campaign earlier on. That is such an important issue and it is important for the Tánaiste, the Government and all of us to be able to say loudly and clearly that we are shocked and horrified at what happened in America. Things are happening at protests that should not happen. There is an awful difference between protesting and rioting and using the situation as an opportunity but that is not what the majority of people are doing. The majority of people are genuinely driven to come out and protest and as I said earlier, to do so in a safe fashion. I want the Government to support that campaign because it is so important.

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