Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I do not doubt that the Minister of State wants to see a sustainable post office network. My issue is not with her personally. It is with how this is being done, or, how it is not being done. We have a situation where next year, postmasters will be basically relying on payment for transactions. Has the Government looked at a public service obligation, PSO, levy?

Why has the interdepartmental group, which was supposed to report last July, still not reported? It is now nine months after it was supposed to report. What is happening? What progress is being made? Postmasters are at the end of their tether. I have met them from all over my constituency, in counties Leitrim, Roscommon, Sligo and Donegal. These are ordinary people who are going to work every day and who want to provide a service. The Minister of State told us what a brilliant service it was during Covid-19. Yet, these people are genuinely concerned that this time next year, some of them will not be there. We will have councillors and Deputies, including myself, asking that a post office will not be closed but if we do not have postmasters to run them and if they cannot make a living, we will have no Post Offices.

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