Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

There are three speakers and I am taking two and a half minutes. I thank the Regional Group for tabling this motion. I fully support it. I thank them for their persistence in coming back again to table the motion nine months after the previous one.

The motion is very succinct and to the point. Nobody could disagree with it. I thank the group for that.

I will add my voice to it. It has been said many times. I represent Galway city, Connemara and right up to south Mayo. I am very familiar with the importance of the post office network, not just to rural and urban areas, but also to the city. I use the local post office on Father Griffin Road on a regular basis. It is absolutely essential. If the Government is serious about revitalising rural areas, then this is croílár na faidhbe or croílár an réitigh. It is part of the solution to sustainable living in rural areas.

Reference was made many times to the Grant Thornton report, which sets out that post offices provide crucial social, economic and administrative services to communities in rural Ireland. I could go on but I will not because it has all been said. I just wanted to reinforce it. When the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, published the Department's Indecon report in December 2019 on the evaluation of the concept of community banking in Ireland, he said that An Post plays an important part in the local community banking sector. With regard to the network, 52.7% of An Post branches are located in areas where there is no bank branch within 5 km.

I find it very difficult that we are here again with another motion. If we are serious then action must be taken. We should look on this as a positive challenge: how to reinvigorate and make the post office network sustainable. It is part of the solution, and not just in providing extended services where we have reduced competition with banks. It is part of a positive response to many things arising from climate change and from the pandemic, where we must do things differently. If we have learned anything, we have learned that we must rely on social cohesion. This is the best example of social cohesion that I know, where we go into the post office on the basis of solidarity and where excellent services are provided.

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