Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North-West, Fianna Fail)

An Post is one of our core public services, one that has many fantastic people working within it. Over the past two weeks, I have had the opportunity to engage with two groups of people who have concerns about our post service. The first group relates to post delivery. The Grove Park and Glasnevin areas of my constituency have had significant disruption to their post services as a result of issues around recruitment, rosters and so on. As the Tánaiste knows, people rely on their post services. I have had examples of bank cards arriving late and people missing oncology appointments as a result. It is really important. It is important that An Post is able to respond to that challenge as well.

I met with a group of urban postmasters, which is a group that is often forgotten, about the viability of urban post offices. Local post offices in villages right across the northside of Dublin are having viability issues, but it is their rural colleagues who are often talked about. If we do not have a reliable postal service and post office network, we will suffer. I welcome the viability funding that was provided by the Government. That is important. I ask the Tánaiste to assist me in trying to improve the post service in the local Grove Park and Glasnevin areas. He might contact An Post on my behalf. Will he assure me that we will support urban postmasters?

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