Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. The Government sees the post office network as a key piece of the financial and social infrastructure of the country. I have seen at first-hand the value of post offices in towns and villages throughout the country and the essential service they provide to people young and old. Throughout the pandemic, post offices stayed open and continued working under very difficult conditions. Indeed, many of them are part of a shop and many of those shopkeepers stepped up to the plate and delivered groceries to their customers when nobody else could. I know that is what my local post office in the village beside me did. They delivered and helped people and we have to recognise that. My Department and myself are very appreciative of the sterling work carried out by post office workers who ensured that a full range of services continued to be delivered to the public through the past two difficult years.

My Department is the largest customer of An Post. More than 24 million social welfare payments were issued via post offices last year and I was pleased to announce recently that the Department has renewed its contract with An Post for cash payment services for another year. This year, my Department expects to spend approximately €56 million in fees to An Post for over-the-counter cash payments and for postage. Last week, I was pleased to announce that payments for all new jobseeker applications will be dealt with directly in post offices. In the coming months, we will extend these measures to other jobseeker payments. This will bring much-needed footfall into post offices in local communities and it is a clear signal of the commitment of the Government to supporting the network as a whole.

My Department has also actively participated in the Government’s interdepartmental group to explore the potential of a one-stop-shop approach for the delivery of Government offline services. The group is co-chaired by the Departments of the Environment, Climate and Communication and Public Expenditure and Reform. I thank postmasters, postmistresses and An Post for their continued efforts to serve our shared customers.

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