Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome much of the information in the Minister of State's response. I asked this question on behalf of the postmasters and workers affected in my constituency, Clare, who as we all know have endured significant hardship and uncertainty in the name of Covid. I would love to be able to return to Clare and tell them the Government is committed to putting preventive measures in place to prevent these closures as projected by the Irish Postmasters Union. It laid bare the potential impact if the Government does not continue with the transformation payments and put other safeguards in place to protect the future of rural post offices. The anticipated number of closures is 200, which is huge given that only 160 were lost in 2019, and six in Clare specifically. Recently, we lost a much-needed post office in Broadford, a community to which an awful lot of people seeking rural communities have relocated due to the pandemic.

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