Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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Question 109: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs if decisions have been reached on applications made to his Department in September 2005 for funding to automate a number of island post offices. [4341/06]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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In September 2005, an application for funding to automate a number of island post offices was received by my Department from An Post. This application is being evaluated in the context of the funding available to me and the competing demands on same.

Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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I am disappointed that the Minister has not been able to answer the question more directly. This question was first asked prior to Christmas, at which time he indicated that those decisions would be made by the end of 2005. We are now two months into 2006 but no decision has yet been made. Will the Minister expand on the information and give the number of applications that have been sought from his Department, when a decision is likely to be made and the funding implications of positive decisions being made in each case?

Does the Minister accept that for the island communities involved, automation should be adopted, especially in terms of social welfare payments because of the insistence on this policy by his Cabinet colleague, Deputy Brennan, the Minister for Social and Family Affairs. In more urban areas it appears that social welfare recipients are being pushed towards the banking system but no such option exists on many of the islands. This is a service that can and must only be provided through An Post.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I absolutely agree with Deputy Boyle. Funnily enough I have been driving this matter since I became a Minister of State six or seven years ago. The reluctance has been on the part of An Post to get on and do the job. It said it did not have the resources. We then offered capital resources to try to enable it to do the job. I have no problem in providing funding of a capital nature, including training on a one-off basis and so on to install the system. I more than agree with everything Deputy Boyle said. AIB banking services, passport applications, mobile phone top-ups and all these other services are now available through post offices. We are committed to providing these services on the islands but the obligation is on An Post in the first instance.

There are post offices on 11 of the islands, two of which, Árainn Mhór and Inis Mór nó Árainn are fully automated. The proposals we got are for Oileán Thoraí i dTír Chonaill, Clare Island and Inishturk in County Mayo, Boffin, Inis Meáin and Inis Oírr in County Galway, Bere Island, Oileán Cléire and Sherkin in County Cork, which gives a total of nine, and when the other two are added this gives a total of 11 post offices, nine of which require to be automated.

We have no problem with the one-off cost. The issue is that having put in the system An Post claims it does not have enough money to run it. It is not my business to pay running cost subsidies on islands. If I start down that road every agency of the State would be looking for running cost subsidies but they will not get them. We will have to resolve that issue.

Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)
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I am not sure how far the Minister's writ extends in these issues but I am anxious that post offices would not close down along our coasts. The Minister is also responsible for rural development. Does he have a role in protecting existing post offices in a Gaeltacht area in my county? I am sure the Minister is very familiar with Rann na Feirste. The post office there, which probably predates the foundation of the State, has been closed. The same thing has happened in the next village, Croithlí. It is happening all over rural Ireland. I agree with Deputy Boyle on the need to have post offices automated as much as possible. Does the Minister have a role in ensuring that post offices remain open and that services remain available to the people in these rural areas? I am sure the Minister will agree that having a post office in an area is a valuable facility. Very often, it is the only State-sponsored facility in an area and it is a backward step to close it down. Does the Minister have a view on that and what is his responsibility as Minister with responsibility for rural development?

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I will not comment on the situation in regard to any particular post office, but in terms of the broader issue, the ministerial responsibility for that matter rests with the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources. Of course I am anxious that services are maintained in rural communities, but that has to be done within the remit of An Post, which has the primary responsibility to make sure it is done. An Post must have a policy to provide services throughout the country.

The issue of the island post offices is different in that if one is on an island there is no question of going down the road to the next post office. If one is on the mainland, at least one has the choice of going to a post office three or four miles down the road. The reason we kept pushing money and that there is a desire to see island post offices upgraded is that there is no other choice for people on islands, and we will continue to pursue this matter.

There is a broader policy issue at stake, one which would create a very dangerous precedent. The various agencies of State have an obligation to provide services to our island communities. As a Department, we have facilitated capital expenditure on health centres, schools, post offices and a wide range of services. Once we have facilitated that we expect the service to be provided without a continual subsidy from the Department by the agency with responsibility for that service. In other words, the health authorities would provide health services and so on. It would be a dangerous precedent for us to cross the threshold. If I were to do so in the case of one State agency I would have every State agency pleading poverty when it came to providing island services.

Funding is always limited. There is funding for providing air services and boat services and we want to improve those services. For example, there is a need for cargo services to islands like Turk, Boffin, Clare and Tory. There is a need for an air service to Tory, and to Boffin in County Galway. We want to improve a range of services. If I started subsidising health boards, education authorities and the like on a day to day basis, the Deputy would quickly realise I would have no money left to improve the ferry services. I have a clear view that the day to day cost of running the services, and obligation for doing so on a parity of esteem basis with people on the mainland, rests with the various agencies. When we resolve that issue, we will then look further at this issue and I hope we will be able to resolve this An Post issue.

An Post has had its own travails in the past few years. I think they were caused, not by the cost of rural services but by other issues. We will try to resolve this as speedily as possible. It has been a long drawn out process. These matters can be frustrating, but there is no point in taking a short cut that leads to even bigger problems in the future and in my view would lead to a draw on island funds that should not be made on specific island funds.

Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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What is the approximate cost of automating a post office? The post office is central to communications, especially on the islands. The former Minister of Public Enterprise, Senator O'Rourke, mentioned a one stop shop approach to rural post offices which she was addressing at that stage, where various State services could be delivered in the one building. The idea was that this would generate some kind of income so one would get somebody to take on such post offices. Are such approaches being examined by anybody? Is the Minister really stating that the current position is there will be no movement on this because An Post will not pay for it and nobody else will pay for it, and there will be no automation?

Damien English (Meath, Fine Gael)
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I am inclined to agree with the way the Minister is approaching this. What are the running costs? Are they excessive?

I would totally agree with Deputy O'Shea's comments on this as well. I am sure this is being looked at but it should be the way forward.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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The capital costs are €129,000 and the running cost per annum is €26,000.

Damien English (Meath, Fine Gael)
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Is that per office?

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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No, my understanding is that the entire project will also require an annual subvention of €26,000. The issue is whether I cross a line. The problem for me is not the money. Some €26,000 will not break the bank, either for me or for An Post.

Damien English (Meath, Fine Gael)
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It is the principle.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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What I would be afraid of is the queue that would form quickly behind An Post — we have seen this in the past — of all sorts of service providers on islands queuing up with their hands out stating, "Please, sir, can I have some more too?" The Deputies know what would happen then, there would be no money left for the services we subvent on a daily basis, particularly transport services.

The figure for capital costs of €129,000 is modest. No doubt I can come up with €129,000. That is not a problem; we just would have to go through the processes.

I agree with Deputy O'Shea on the issue of the one stop shop. Currently, there is not the full range of automated services available. The first step we want to take is to provide everything that the best post office in the country can provide in terms of banking, passport applications, mobile services, sterling drafts, business deposits, gift vouchers etc. Of course there is a captive population on an island, where people cannot go to the next post office and the post office gets all the business available. There is also quite a bit of tourist business on some of these islands. I agree they can build up a good business.

On the issue of other services, the concept is good. However, we run a community development project on all of those islands, with the exception of Sherkin for reasons of which the House will be aware, and we are a little betwixt and between as to who should provide the one stop shop, in that there is the post office which is often associated with a shop and there is also this community development project or Gaeltacht co-operative providing other services, to which we often give the role of providing the kind of other one stop shop services. I agree that between those two organisations as many services as possible should be delivered within the islands. The principle is correct, but in certain cases perhaps the Gaeltacht co-operative or the CDP should provide it. In other cases, the idea of the local post office providing as many services as possible is a worthy one to which I would be open.