Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this really important issue and I welcome the opportunity to outline the position on the matter on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan and the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers. Both the Minister and the Minister of State are aware of the impact that decisions relating to changes in An Post operations have on communities and individuals, in both rural and urban areas.

An Post is a commercial State company with a mandate to act commercially and, as such, day-to-day operational matters, including decisions in relation to the size, distribution and future of the network are matters for the board and the management of the company, not ones in which either the Minister or Minister of State have a statutory function.

The Minister has responsibility for the postal sector, including the governance oversight of An Post, to ensure the company is compliant with the code of practice for the governance of State bodies and the governance functions included in the statutory framework underpinning An Post. In line with its ongoing transformation, as the Deputy has said, An Post has announced that it is converting six post offices from An Post-operated to contractor-operated, one of which being the Tallaght office. That post office will join the mainstream of national post offices, in that more than 90% of the country’s 900 post offices are operated by contractors. It should be noted that fewer than 40 post offices throughout the State are now run directly by An Post. I have the same correspondence the Deputy has, which states that An Post has indicated that the change in business model of the six offices will not in any way alter the range or extent of the services offered by An Post in those locations. I think those are the words the Deputy read out.

An Post has, over the last number of years, been transforming its business by delivering new products and new formats in the way it operates. This includes, among other things, diversifying and growing the financial services products it provides for individuals and small- and medium-sized enterprises, to include loans, credit cards, more foreign exchange products, local banking in association with the major banks and a full range of State savings products. An Post is providing agency banking services for AIB and Bank of Ireland across its network of post offices.

The Government agreed that an amount of €10 million per annum will be provided by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications - this is what the Government is doing to support post offices - over a three-year fixed term to support the postmasters, with funding to be dispersed across the post office network. The funding is being paid monthly for each 12-month period. More than €12.2 million has been claimed by An Post to the end of March 2024 for the postmaster network.

The programme for Government recognises that a modernised post office network will provide a better range of financial services and e-commerce services for citizens and enterprise, as part of our commitment to a sustainable nationwide post office network. The overall €30 million in funding that is being provided to support a sustainable, nationwide post office network is in line with this commitment.

I am answering this on behalf of the Minister, but I will make a comment under my own brief as the Minister of State with responsibility for older people. We lost the post office in An Rinn, the Gaeltacht area of Waterford last week. We did have somebody who was prepared to take it on but unfortunately, it just was not financially viable. Many older people use the post office every week-----

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