Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Regional Group, including Deputy Denis Naughten and others, for moving this motion. When the Deputy was a Minister, he was very strong in his approach in trying to save the post office network. We met him once per week and we used to go through many issues.

The post office network has been a lifeline for many people in rural Ireland. In my time in the Dáil, I have heard talk of support for the post office network from big political parties when in opposition but when in government that support seems to end. Instead of creating a vision for post offices, we have seen successive Governments leave rural post offices starved of resources.

I live on a peninsula with three post offices at Goleen, Schull and Ballydehob, and like post offices in Kealkill or even as far east as Kilbrittain, they are a lifeline to their communities. More often I see the people in post offices looking to think outside the box because they are getting little or no state aid. They know they are in serious trouble and struggling to survive. They may be looking at setting up part of the post office as a café and they are trying their best to generate some sort of income for survival. The State continues to refuse support for these post offices.

There is state funding for the post office network in the UK, France, Spain, Belgium, Italy, Finland and Poland with the approval of the European Commission. Unfortunately, this country has failed to recognise the great work that the post office network has done in this country, right down to the person delivering post on the street day and night. With social welfare payments, people are being advised to move to the electronic system but people used to visit the post office and do their transactions there. They are being pushed away. At one time it was suggested the vehicle car tax could go through the post office network but it was ultimately not done.

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