Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. I am sharing time. I come from a rural community in Kiskeam, County Cork, where we are privileged to have John Murphy as the postmaster. He refused the package that was offered a number of years ago to keep the post office within our community. That is a testament to him and his commitment to his community, to which he has given his life in many forms. We have to salute people like him and I salute him for what he has done.

Everything being said about how important and vital it is to maintain the post offices is true. We must examine where we place post offices as we consider where we are in the latter end of 2020. There is an opening there to ensure that post offices are kept at the centre of our communities by having digital hubs. There is much talk among various Government Departments about ensuring that there are digital hubs. We have seen how society has transformed in respect of working from home and that has been way beyond the political curve. Many of us in this House have been talking ad nauseamabout decentralisation and getting Departments to rural communities, but the establishment was laughing at the idea.

Society has moved beyond that now and people are working from home in rural communities while giving as good a service as they ever have. In that context, it is important that we look at the model of the post offices. Before any more post offices close, it must be recognised that they are vital focal points in communities. They must be engaged further, established as digital hubs and they must get more footfall. Many speakers have asked how we can get more business into post offices. To do that, it is necessary to offer the services society needs today. I refer to making the post office more attractive and ensuring that it continues to be the centre it always has been. I state that because there is as much need to have a centre in rural and urban communities today as there ever has been. It behoves us to look at that aspect.

Many fine words, going back several years, have been uttered regarding a whole-of-government approach to post offices. We are now, however, at a juncture where society has been transformed due to the impact of this desperate pandemic besetting us in recent months. We must look at the positive aspects that exist for our rural communities and in that regard and to keep the focal point that is the post office, we must ensure that we enhance whatever State services can be put into post offices. We must also ensure that our post offices are viable for the future and a system of digital hubs based on the post office network is the way to do that. I appeal to the Government and those making decisions to embrace this idea and make it a reality throughout our rural communities.

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