Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to discuss the issue of post offices. I express my disappointment that a question I had tabled to the Minister earlier was disallowed for some technical reason. It should have been answered.

The interim report on post offices has just been released. Its authors have analysed all of the relevant issues. I wish to make a number of comments on the report. The Department of Social Protection has changed its policy such that forms sent from it are encouraging people not to uses post offices. The whole-of-government approach, from which this decision emanates, was announced prior to the European and local elections in 2014. Mr. Bobby Kerr took over stewardship of the review of the post office network in February this year. While I welcome the work he has done, surely if there is a whole-of-government approach, it cannot be right for the Department to distribute forms which suggest the post office network should not be the first port of call for the collection of social welfare payments. That is a very dangerous step. Social welfare payments and the fees payable thereon are the fundamental rock on which the post office network rests. It is totally unacceptable, therefore, for the Government to talk ad nauseamabout the importance of ensuring the future of the post office network while the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection is authorising her Department to undermine the network in such a shameful way. We had a Topical Issues debate on the post office network some time ago during which the Minister of State at the Department of Social Protection, Deputy Kevin Humphreys, said the aforementioned forms would not be sent, but that is far from the truth because they are now circulating.

The report makes reference to everyone having a post office within 5 km of his or her home and the fact that we should take this as a basic prerequisite for the future of the post office network. An Post must be obliged, through changes to its memorandum of understanding, to maintain the network as constituted. We have been talking for years about processing motor tax payments in post offices. Responsibility for processing driving licence application forms should have been given to post offices. All Departments should endeavour to increase the number of transactions completed through the post office network.

An Post operates savings and other financial accounts and handles large amounts of money. The main banks have left large tracts of rural Ireland without financial services. Much of the media debate has focused on the move to the digital age and the increased use of the Internet and the challenge this poses for the post office network. The network should be the point of contact between the State and local communities. We must examine in detail what financial services could be offered through the network and An Post should continue to process social welfare payments. It is not good enough for one arm of government to direct people towards banks. They should be able to access their money through An Post in the same way as they would in any bank. The report outlines the challenges that lie ahead. We are at a crossroads in the case of the post office network. We must decide as a people and a state that we are going to support post offices in tangible ways that will have a meaningful effect.

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to address the House on the day the initial report of the post office network business development group has been published for consultation. I established the group which is led by the entrepreneur Bobby Kerr in January to explore commercial and public service opportunities to secure the future of the post office network. It has found that a disproportionate amount of business is conducted in relatively few of the country's 1,140 post offices. Two thirds of all transactions are conducted in 300 post offices, while a further 48% of post offices account for just 12% of total business. In addition, the post office network is hugely reliant on two contracts, one with the Department of Social Protection and the other with the NTMA. Changing consumer preferences mean that many consumers do not go to the post office any more. The way in which people do business has changed markedly in recent years. This means that post offices must continue to diversify and modernise in order to provide the services that will attract customers. The business development group makes the point that post offices have the potential to thrive if they diversify into areas such as financial services, public service delivery and white labelling. In the coming weeks the group will explore these business areas further.

An Post remains a trusted brand the length and breadth of the country, with 1,140 active company and contractor-operated post offices and 128 postal agents. Approximately 65% of post offices are located in rural areas where they provide important services for local communities. Despite the challenges faced by post offices, the number of closures has fallen dramatically during the lifetime of the Government. There were 24 net closures between 2011 and 2014 compared with 198 between 2007 and 2010. I encourage everyone interested in maintaining the relevance of the post office network to communities to take the opportunity to respond with their views and suggestions during the consultation period which opened today and which will run until 28 July. The initial report and the consultation questions are available on my Department's website. This is a real chance to have an input into the workings of the business development group and represents the best opportunity to place the post office network on a sustainable footing for the future. I look forward to receiving the final report of the group which I expect to receive later this year.

Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Of the 24 net closures of post offices, four were on the northern side of my constituency. The most recent was in Milford in north Cork. I made an enormous effort, with officials of An Post, to try to maintain that post office. It was a retrograde step for the community there that the post office franchise was not readvertised.

Has the Minister and officials of his Department met the board of An Post recently? An Post seems to be content to let the network to die out. It is not making any effort to go after new business or offer new products to attract new customers. Has the Minister and his officials met the board with a view to exploring new business opportunities? Has the board taken any initiative in the past year or so in that regard? The Minister announced the whole-of-government approach in April last year and appointed Mr. Bobby Kerr to lead the business development group in January this year. My party will be making a very strong submission in response to the initial report. Has the Minister told the board that he does not want to see more post offices closing and that the company should aggressively go after new business and make sure it is relevant in the digital age in which we live? Communities are desperate to ensure their post offices will be maintained. They believe that if they lose their post office, they will lose the heart of their communities. Where post offices have closed, the heartbeat of communities has been lost. Has the Minister and his officials met the board of An Post recently to challenge it on what it is doing? Postmasters are very concerned about their futures. As elected Members, we must reflect this view very strongly and make sure there will be a viable post office network.

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I have met the chairman, the chief executive and the board of An Post. As the Deputy may be aware, Mr. Christoph Mueller has decided to retire from the position of chairman.

We are now in the process of appointing a new chair of An Post, which will happen in the coming weeks. I look forward to the new chair being appointed and the opportunity I will undoubtedly then have to engage with him or her on these important issues.

There is ongoing contact between my officials and An Post on these questions. I reject any suggestion that the policy of either the Government or An Post is to let the post office network fizzle out, to use the phrase the Deputy used. There is no such approach, belief or policy. We cannot conjure up business for post offices; we have to work on it and have a plan to do it. We have to have the kind of expert advice and input that Mr. Bobby Kerr is bringing to the process. We have to have people's ideas and experiences. I look forward to hearing the Deputy's proposals and other proposals from across the House as to the practical steps we can take to allow An Post to attract business, which I have no doubt it can. I have huge confidence in An Post as being a terrific organisation with marvellous roots in communities throughout the country. However, we need to work in a systematic way to ensure business is brought into An Post both from the public sector and the private sector.

I am sure we all have the same interests here. I might be allowed to remark that it is a pity that four, five or six years ago the then Government did not anticipate the kinds of problems we are seeing now. I suggest it would have been possible to anticipate the change in consumer patterns and the manner in which people do business, both in rural and urban areas. It is a pity that some of this work was not done by the previous Government. At least we are now grappling with this issue in a systematic way. We have had very few post office closures compared with the period when the Deputies opposite were in government.

However, the key thing is for us all to work together in a practical and pragmatic way to attract activity into post offices. I am happy to say Mr. Bobby Kerr is leading that process. He gave us the interim report today and I look forward to the discussion on that interim report and then the final report in September.