Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. It is one I expected. I understand the part of commercial companies and so on. Transformation will end up like the banks and supermarkets, where people do not talk to staff anymore because everything will be done by machines. The sustainable model is one issue that confuses me. I live in Midleton. If my parcel cannot be delivered, it will be sent to Dungarvan. It will not be a fairly sustainable eco-footprint by the time I get to Dungarvan to collect my parcel and drive all the way back to Midleton. I thank the Minister of State for the reply. I noted that he stated this is not a done deal but according to the people I have been talking to, it is a done deal and the dates are set. The Minister of State mentioned the staff being moved from Midleton to Little Island. I mentioned it in my opening contribution because people are worried about how things will work in terms of getting kids to school and so on. I will bring the reply back, and I will talk to the people again. I am glad that the Government is saying it is not a done deal. From the correspondence I have seen between An Post and the employees, it is a case of like it or leave it. I am disappointed. This is a vital service in Youghal, Midleton and Cobh, even though it was moved from there. During Covid, the delivery office I mentioned in Little Island was doing 40% more than the two offices in Athlone and Portlaoise. Ironically, there was a long-term plan for that to go on sale. If a company is going so well with parcels, why would it sell a profitable business? To make it worse, there was a rumour it was going to be sold to a different parcel company. If that is a semi-State body working for the State, it is not a really good model. I will take on board the Minister of State's reply, go back to my gang, and we will probably rehash it again.

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