Dáil debates

Wednesday, 7 July 2021

Post Office Network: Motion [Private Members]

 

11:27 am

Photo of Michael McNamaraMichael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to speak in favour of the motion. I thank the Regional Independent Group for bringing forward this important motion. It is a mark of Deputy Naughten's commitment to the post office network, while in government and in opposition. I share that commitment. I supported a Government from 2011 to 2016 that was under a lot of pressure to close post offices. A lot of politics was played with those post offices. The Acting Chairman, Deputy Carey, will be aware that no post offices were closed during that period of time in Clare, despite many efforts to rationalise the post office network.

The post office network is particularly important across rural Ireland. There is much talk about banks leaving rural Ireland, but they are private entities. They were to be replaced with one-stop-shops, and post offices were to provide services to replace them. In places such as Tulla, for example, where the Bank of Ireland branch is mooted for closure, the obvious place to replace it would be the post office in Broadford, but that too is mooted for closure. There has been a lot of talk about supporting post offices, but little action from the Government. In the Minister of State's reply, I would very much like to hear what concretely will be done to sustain the post office network.

I agree with the Government that there are possibilities and that there is no cloud that does not have a silver lining. There are possibilities arising from the rationalising of the bank's network, but I do not necessarily see that the post offices will be in a position to avail of those opportunities. Consider the ATM networks, for example. Many of the ATMs are inside the post offices but we need 24-hour access to ATMs and to have them outside. This has security and insurance implications. Financial provision may have to be made for post offices to be able to provide that service.

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