Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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I will give a bit of background to this issue. There was a public meeting in Greencastle about the fears of the community in regard to the closure of Greencastle post office. This has generated considerable debate locally and the local community will challenge any decision to permanently close the post office, which has been providing an invaluable service to the greater Greencastle area. An Post has not yet made a decision, so it is important to give it a bit of space. However, this House can feed in the views and concerns of the local community in regard to this service.

Obviously, the core-periphery argument can be made quite logically and comprehensively when one is trying to co-ordinate services in a more efficient way. Moville, which is over the road from Greencastle, became the focal point for areas like Lecamey, Carrowmenagh and Meenletterbale, where there had been existing postal services down the years. The argument was a logical one. The people in those communities would say that Moville is quite close. The next stop to the north is the island of Inishtrahull or the Hebrides in northern Scotland. The core-periphery argument is quite a succinct, good and logical one. If one looks at where Greencastle is on a map, as An Post will be doing, and if one draws a line to find the nearest place, one will see that it is in Northern Ireland, where a different postal service is in operation. It does not come into the equation.

It is easy to make the argument that Greencastle is a peripheral outreach of Moville. It is on the periphery near the Border. The reality is different, however. The ferry route between Magilligan and Greencastle is becoming the main transport corridor for a whole new tourism route between Donegal and the Titanic Centre in Belfast. This summer, large numbers of people used the new tourism corridor to visit parts of Donegal like Inishowen and Glenveagh National Park. Many people visit the Titanic Centre, which is the focal point of this new corridor, before going to see the Giant's Causeway and using the ferry to skip across into Donegal. A substantial number of people from Northern Ireland travel through the village of Greencastle. It is not necessarily a peripheral point. It is a main thoroughfare for many people who have holiday homes in Northern Ireland. It is a commercial centre. I do not need to remind Members that it is one of our main fishing ports. It is important to point out that many students attend the National Fisheries College is in Greencastle. I say this in support of the postal service in the Greencastle area. It is not just an outpost that is on the periphery. It serves an important function. The community has reacted in a positive way. Local people are willing to work with An Post to see whether additional measures can be implemented to provide for a more progressive service.

I would like to conclude by informing the Minister that as a result of the closures in places like Lecamey, Meenletterbale and Carrowmenagh, the people are queued out the door in Moville already, to put it in ordinary north Inishowen language. If there are capacity issues in Moville already, what will happen if the Greencastle facility closes down? I suggest that Moville will not have the capacity to cope. Such intricate aspects of the matter need to be looked at. I encourage the Minister, regardless of what is stated in the script he has in front of him, to do what he can to give An Post the latitude, the time and the space needed to make a comprehensive decision and not just a reactionary one.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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As the Deputy and the House will know, I am responding to this matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Rabbitte. The Minister would like to assure the Deputy that the Government is committed to a strong and viable An Post and supports the maintenance of the maximum number of economically viable post offices. The commercial operation of An Post's post office network is a matter for the board and management of the company. It is not one in which the Minister has a direct statutory function. The Minister understands from An Post that due to the death of the postmaster in Greencastle last month, the son of the former postmaster has been put on a temporary postmaster contract to operate the service pending a review of services in the area. When postmaster vacancies arise, An Post reviews the need for a post office as a standard procedure. In this case, An Post decided to proceed with local consultation. A notice that was put up in the post office on 9 September 2013 invited the views of interested parties no later than this Friday, 27 September. It is the intention of the company after 27 September to consider the position taking account of any relevant factors, including views received, and to take a decision on the future of the office at that stage. At this point in time, no decision has been taken in the matter.

In reaching its decision, An Post will take account of network coverage needs, the level of business at the post office, customer access to service elsewhere, travel distances and the capacity of neighbouring offices to handle business if the post office closes. Deputy McHugh has referred to this aspect of the matter. As we have heard, the nearest post office to Greencastle is located in Moville, which is approximately three miles away. It has been mentioned that the AIB branch in Moville closed recently. The Minister is satisfied that the criteria used by An Post to decide on the future of individual post offices are robust enough to take account of changes in local circumstances. He fully understands the concerns of Deputy McHugh, Senator Jimmy Harte and Councillor Martin Farren about the future of the post office and the importance of the office to the local community. As a shareholder, the Minister has a strong concern for the ongoing commercial position of the company. It should be noted that An Post is facing many challenges, not only financially but also as a result of the development of communications technologies. Any decision it may take must be considered in the context of maintaining a sustainable post office network. An Post has many strengths. It has the largest retail presence in the country. The Minister has impressed on the company the need to further exploit its unique position in this regard. He has supported its attempts to diversify its income streams and to win a wider range of commercial contracts offering higher margins. The Government recognises the strategic importance of the postal sector. It has been a long-standing policy that An Post must remain in a position to compete in a liberalised market and to continue to provide wide-ranging services to urban and rural communities.

Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for his response. I appreciate that no decision has been made to date. I hope the various contributions to this debate, such as the community interjection, the public meeting and all the different observations and opinions, are taken on board. I welcome the fact that An Post officials have agreed to meet public and community representatives. I am conscious that an array of political personnel is involved in this. I am working quite closely with Councillor Mickey Doherty in the area. I appreciate the complete and comprehensive update he has given me.

We need to look at where we are at as a country. The argument we hear from the Executive is that we need to do more with less. That is the mantra. It can be political dynamite to buy into that agenda and vote on that basis, because it can involve rationalisation of hospitals and primary schools. While I can accept aspects of that difficult argument, the philosophy I espouse is that I am looking to the future; in this case, the future of Greencastle as a port and the future of Donegal as a county. Historically and traditionally, County Donegal has been neglected. I accept that partition has played a part in that. There can be a perception that it is in Northern Ireland. During the era of the Troubles, people were reluctant to travel to Donegal. International tourists were more inclined to fly into Shannon Airport or Dublin Airport. Americans were not inclined to travel any further north than County Clare or County Galway.

The future of our region is changing. As a businessman in my local parish said to me, our county has had one of the best summers ever. That was a big thing for him to say because he has been around for a while. He said it might have been the best summer ever. That trend is going to continue. People from places like Wexford, Germany and America will be willing to travel northwards. Greencastle will be the entry point from Northern Ireland. As more people come to stay in County Donegal, the number of people travelling through Greencastle will increase. I strongly urge the Minister to make the point to An Post - I will do so at a meeting tomorrow morning - that Greencastle is not a peripheral area, even if it might look isolated on a map. It is part of a wider community that incorporates many people from Northern Ireland who come to the area on a temporary basis, perhaps while staying in holiday homes or visiting as day tourists. The number of people who contribute to the local community in this way will increase as time goes on.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I understand the point the Deputy is making. I know the Minister, Senator Harte and others are equally concerned. Everybody in Donegal has been affected by the historical legacy of partition, etc.

Let me put some statistics on the table. An Post has 1,144 retail outlets, of which 57 are company-owned and operated and 1,087 outlets are contract offices. A total of 146 outlets are postal agents. In 2009, there were just under 1,500 such outlets - 1,413 to be precise. According to this note, approximately 35% of all post offices could be classified as urban and 65% as rural. It seems to me that we must get a balance between access to services, to which all citizens in Ireland are entitled, and the commercial viability of a semi-State commercial company which must make commercial decisions. Having spoken to the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources about this, I know the Government is committed to a sustainable post office network across the country. The An Post review takes account of local circumstances, including that people have reasonable access to post office facilities. Regrettable as the closure of the local bank branch in Moville is, the facility of the post office network to provide an alternative outlet for financial transactions is one that is of benefit to communities. I know it will take into account all of the factors involved and I know the Minister is acutely conscious of the Deputy's concern and that of other Deputies and Senators in the area.