Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Regional Group for tabling the motion. Private Members’ time is an important slot, and I would say that as I am in opposition, but when we see groups or parties use their Private Members' time, which does not come up that often, to bring some continuity to a debate, it shows how much that group believes in it. It is an important issue for this House and we need to discuss it as much as possible.

My brother-in-law is a musician and he is in a band. The band is pretty sensational and I am not just saying that as a biased family member. It is a band that has built up a not insignificant fan base all across the world in recent years. Like many artists and musicians, the pandemic has crippled the band members' ability to generate any income because they cannot tour. Even recording and getting content out is difficult. The one thing they could do, even to a small extent, was to continue with the trickle of merchandise their fans from across the world or here would order. My brother-in-law was in charge of the merchandise. Usually with a band like this, one whose members greatly value their fan base, they set up a table after a gig, sign albums and spend time appreciating their fans as they know that without their fans, as is the case for many artists, they would not have a livelihood. It was important for my brother-in-law and his colleagues in the band to ensure they were able to trust an operator to deliver their merchandise, whether it was to another part of Dublin or another part of the world, be it Toyko or South America, and whether it was a poster, an album or a tee shirt, ensure it would arrive safely. A decision was made that the only operator they could trust to do this was the post office. My brother-in-law developed an important professional relationship with the local post office. Every few days he would go to there with a clutch of merchandise and the band members would know that once the merchandise was handed over and its delivery from here to where the fans were based was paid for, they could trust that the packages would arrive safely. That link which they have with their fans, which could not take place over a trestle table after a gig any more, could continue and they would that have connection.

No other delivery service offers that level of trust and service. That is not to disparage any other group. We have all received packages from various courier firms. Some of them are fantastic and they will knock on the door and leave the package with a neighbour but some will throw a package over the back wall and not even send a text to advise that. One just does not know what the service will be but we know with An Post it has a proper service, back office follow up and tracking numbers and whether someone is in a band or running a company or a for-profit business it can be replied upon. We talk about various groups that have been impacted by the pandemic almost in silos. We will have a debate about the impact of it on artists, taxi drivers and the aviation industry and now we are debating the impact of it on the post office network but the longer this pandemic goes on, we can see the way they are all interlinked, that our economy and society are interlinked, and the way we rely on each other and how important various parts of our social infrastructure are. That is what our post office is. I do not know if an economist could put a price on that trust but if he or she could, it should be a high price. It is the hardest thing to build up and the easiest thing to break. A trust has been built up in our post office network, as in many of our public services such as the fire brigade service or Dublin Bus, and that must be protected.

While much of the debate on the motion is weighted towards the rural parts of the country, and that rings true because post offices have added import in our smaller and more rural areas, they are just as important in our cities and commuter areas. I live in a commuter belt. Our post offices are vitally important in Fingal. We have had campaigns to protect the post offices in Phibsboro, which is right in the centre of Dublin. These are vibrant and important focal points for communities all over the country. There are opportunities for the network. The IPU published the Grant Thornton report last year, which highlighted the opportunities that exist for post office service to grow and ensure it is sustainable. In that way when a postmaster retired there would be a clamour for people to make a pitch for the contract because it would be a viable enterprise for someone to get involved in. When people retire or age out of running a post office there is no one to take up the running of it. That is the reason many of our post offices are closing. The Government can stand aside and be passive, which is what is happening, and it can make soundings about how supportive it is and how important post offices are, but it cannot stand back and allow the number of closures to ractchet up year after year. We know that in 2021 a great number will close unless something is done. The Government has allowed post office after post office to close because it has not provided what is needed, which is direct State intervention. That would ensure these are vaible enterprises for people to take over and sustain in communities for further decades. A postmaster will be in a post office for decades. That is good continuity and what we want to support. That is where the trust comes from. People in communities throughout the country know they can rely on their post office. They know its hours of business and the workers and that they can get advice. Let us get the services into the network.

We all have a responsibility to use our post offices more. They provide services that people probably do not know exist. As was the case with my brother-in-law, when people are faced with a decision and their eyes are opened up to what the post office can bring, they use it and get an amazing service. It is incumbent on all of us to go that extra mile to support our post offices and ensure the existing services are used. Crucially important in the motion is the call for further services to be provided and a vision for the future of our post office network. If post offices are gone, they are gone and we will lament it for decades to come if we let them all go.

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