Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

First, direct mail is a very good, profitable and important business for An Post and a very good marketing mechanism. Therefore, I agree with the Deputy. That should be an area in which we hopefully will see further expansion. Regarding the route networks, I do not think they go back to the stagecoach but I remember when we were establishing the Eircode system that this network is based around the postal delivery going back to where the local post person is working. That is a core part of An Post's business. How it uses it is something I hope it can amend or I hope it can further develop the resource it has.

Second, regarding electric vehicles, An Post deserves huge credit in this regard. I remember up to five years ago, someone came to the chief executive of An Post at the time with a proposal for two or three electric vehicles. Instead, the ambition was that it would change the entire fleet and really think big. That has been very successful. It is a real example of a State company showing real enterprise and real capability that benefits the company and the community with cleaner, quieter vehicles with lower emissions. An Post has done very well in that. It is a real model of how businesses can be changed quite dramatically.

In answer to Deputy Kenny-----

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