Dáil debates

Wednesday, 7 July 2021

Post Office Network: Motion [Private Members]

 

11:37 am

Photo of Cathal CroweCathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to be able to speak to this motion. I bow to the expertise of the previous speaker, the Minister of State, Deputy Troy, whose family has given a lifetime to the postal service and post office network. It is important that we work very quickly to bring about a medium to long term solution for the national post office network. The community and politicians, including the Acting Chair, fought the good fight for many months but on Monday morning a stepladder went up, the screws were taken out and the sign which had been over Broadford post office for 190 years was taken down. The service is gone.

An interdepartmental working group is working on a more long term solution to tide over the sector. It concerns me that its work and reporting to Government does not perfectly align with the current payment regime to postmasters that is concluding in the month of July. There needs to be an acute urgency to this.

Fianna Fáil has a policy group and has repeatedly pushed for a public service obligation. This was identified by the Grant Thornton expert report in 2019. It would cost around €17 million to ensure that all 900 post offices in the post office network would be sustainable and operational this year and into the future. That needs to be in the mix. It concerns me that at a recent meeting of the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications the chief executive of An Post, Mr. David McRedmond, spoke about a Covid payment over the coming months. That stipend is coming in at a time when we are trying to emerge from Covid. Most sectors have been supported throughout the pandemic, but An Post seems to be introducing this plan at the very end.

As I said to the Minister, Deputy Ryan, every effort should be made to reopen the four post offices that were closed during Covid. In Broadford, a member of the postmaster's family was unwell and the family decision to retire was seized upon by An Post as an opportunity to close the post office. We need to examine specifically such cases.

I refer to PostPoint, which are small units in shops where people can buy stamps, weigh a parcel or complete small transactions. It is being offered time and again as an alternative and proper solution to replace a post office. It does not work to any great extent, in particular in a rural environment. Speaking of Broadford, if it was to be introduced as an alternative to the post office the financial return for having it in a local shop would be about €1,500 per annum. That does not pay and it is for that reason that the whole model is in danger.

State intervention is urgently needed. I welcome the work underway by Government. It cannot be concluded soon enough. I ask the Minister of State to examine the four post offices, including Broadford, that closed during the Covid pandemic. They need special examination.

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