Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The Government has continued to look at this matter. Today, we announced a series of further Covid-related payments, in this case to the aviation industry because it is in real trouble. I would not rule out whatever further measures that the Government might have to consider.

The Deputy is right when he says that the 25% reduction in footfall is a real issue. An additional cost of €6 million has been incurred in post offices to pay for PPE and other protection measures. There has been a further acceleration of the decline in mail revenues and volumes. Traditionally, in recent years, it was declining by approximately 7% per annum. The decrease has been closer to 10% or 15% this year. As in many other sectors, business is down. The factor that compensates for this is that revenues from the parcel business are up 100%. That is probably true for many businesses involved in the online system.

The success that An Post has had in recent years in turning its fortunes around, getting back to break-even or to profit and having a very positive outlook compared to what people might have expected in these difficult circumstances has resulted from its approach of aiming for markets for new products for which there is a real demand and being innovative in looking at new opportunities. In addition, there are Government services that we can distribute through the post office network. I commit to doing anything I can to get as many of those services as possible delivered through the post office system.

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