Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his answer and the clarity concerning the ability, or otherwise, of the Minister to engage in this matter. I strongly feel, however, that we do need to find a way to apply a wider lens in this context. Let us leave to one side the individual case of this post office. The provision of services within communities, and especially in Gaeltacht communities, cannot always be driven by an economic or commercial model. In the case of An Rinn, and I am not here to make the case for any one person, the contract has been offered. I know one person who is interested in taking it on but his accountant has told him to run a mile from it. I refer, basically, to what is on the table in terms of returns. The transaction fees only total a certain amount of money and will not even pay a minimum wage for someone to stand in behind the counter for the hours required. An upfront investment of €40,000 is required because, as an An Post post office, it is necessary to put in the proper counter and the requisite security. The only reason this man is interested in getting involved is because he knows the importance of these services within the Gaeltacht community. He can do without this headache but he is committed to providing Irish-language services within Gaeltacht na nDéise.

There will be knock-on impacts if these Irish-language services are not provided. If people drive into Abbeyside to get their pensions, for example, first of all, they have to drive to the location itself, which is 6 miles in the car. The Green Party fellow does not want this, for sure. It is possible, however, to get the Local Link bus and it is well worth mentioning this point. After people have made that drive into Abbeyside, though, they will then have to do their business in English. This is not what we want for our Gaeltacht communities. Additionally, while people are in Abbeyside and their cars are parked up and they need a few bits of shopping, they will probably pop into the Spar or Centra shop there. This will result in an important cut to the revenue of the Spar or Centra shop out in An Rinn. What will happen then? That place will close its doors. This will be another piece of the jigsaw that we will have lost in terms of maintaining a community language in our Gaeltacht areas. This is, therefore, an issue we must look at. Even if we are looking at it in the round, if we are really serious about the preservation of our Gaeltacht, then we must provide services in those areas trí mheán na Gaeilge.

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