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

I thank the Minister for taking this matter this morning. I want to discuss the fact that the parcel offices in Midleton and Youghal, County Cork are to be relocated. The Youghal parcel office is to be relocated to Dungarvan, County Waterford, which is strange. An Post wants to move the Midleton parcel office to Little Island, which is now part of Cork city. If this goes ahead, there will be no depot for collecting parcels in the eastern side of east Cork. The more worrying aspect of this is that employees were informed of it by a WhatsApp message. That is very inappropriate. The union representatives I spoke with had very little consultation. It seemed to come from the top down. Ironically, it is also mooted that the parcel office in Ballincollig is to move to Macroom in west Cork. That is absolute madness. I would like to see the lad on the bicycle going down to collect his parcels. It will take a long time to cycle from Ballincollig to Macroom.

The other side of this is that more than 30 people work in the office in Midleton. Many of these people have relocated over the years. They have family going to school in the area. There was no consideration of the consequences of being relocated. Approximately a year and a half ago 30 additional charging points were installed in Ballinacurra as well at a cost, I suspect. That does not look like good value for money.

People in Midleton and the surrounding areas - if I named them it would take me 20 minutes - who use this depot will now have to go to Cork city. What has really aggrieved people is that the engagement with unions locally was very poor. People rely on these services. During Covid-19, the parcel office in Little Island was handling 40% more parcels than Portlaoise and Athlone offices put together, yet An Post tried to close it at that time as well.

I raise this because people have approached me about it saying it is bad enough to have lost so many post offices in east Cork, but they are now losing all their parcel offices in the eastern side of east Cork. People in Youghal will not be impressed if they are told to go to County Waterford to collect their parcels. The people in Midleton will not be too happy to go to Little Island. I want to try to get a response. It is a draconian move. The people of east Cork will not be impressed with this. As I said, consultation with the local workforce and local unions was practically zero. What is the rationale for closing these offices? We are trying to keep services local to serve local areas, yet An Post sees fit to move services into Cork city and County Waterford. We in east Cork will be left with a massive gap from Midleton, Castlemartyr, Killeagh, Ballycotton, Cloyne, Youghal, Aghada, Whitegate, Lisgoold, Leamlara, Carrigtohill and the surrounding areas. None of these people will be served by a local parcel service in that part of east Cork. Is there a response from An Post? What is the rationale for doing this? People want the decision to be reversed and local services kept local.

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