Michael Harty (Clare, Independent)
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I thank you, a Cheann Comhairle, for choosing this Topical Issue today. I thank the Minister for coming in to respond.

We have had many discussions about the sustainability of the post office network over the past two years. It boils down to expanding the services the network can deliver. It effectively depends on the Government devolving more Government services to post offices and developing new services that are meaningful to the public and which people will find helpful when accessed through the post office network.

The post office network is a real national asset which the Government should support. Once a post office is lost to a community it will never be regained. The programme for a partnership Government commits to protecting the post office network. Even though it commits to supporting social welfare contracts, which are delivered via the post office network, the value of these contracts has fallen from €60 million to €51 million. If this trend continues, it will undermine the viability of many post offices.

Supporting the post office network will encourage people to avail of direct payments through their post office.

What is happening is that, on the one hand, the Government is encouraging people to have their payments and services supplied online and, on the other, it is proposing to support the post office network. As a result, one branch of Government is opposing the other and the network is being undermined as a result.

In its programme, the Government committed to a model of community banking. This has been discussed for the two years the Government has been in office but nothing has been brought forward in the context of delivering a community banking network. The Government also committed to identifying services that can be delivered through the network by means of a one-stop-shop model. The post office network should act as a facilitator for people who have difficulty applying for services online and it should help people ensure that they make accurate returns on their applications, which can lead to a speedier response.

In November 2016, the Rural Independent Group tabled a motion which recognised the vital role post offices play in the social and commercial fabric of communities. That motion was unanimously accepted by this House. The post office is often the last financial institution in a community and the loss of a post office will fatally damage the viability of a community as people move their business to larger centres. That motion committed the Government to look at the idea of post offices developing a community banking networks similar to the Kiwibank or Sparkassen models. These models have been very successful in their home countries, delivering meaningful services to the community, and the profits that are made by those community banks are ploughed back into communities rather than going to commercial enterprises.

The motion in question also committed the Government to protecting postmasters' income by providing extra services. The deal that has been offered to postmasters is a Hobson's choice in that they either continue on as they are - and, invariably, have their incomes reduced once they are reviewed because no additional services will be supplied by the post offices - or they have to accept an exit package that is very unattractive and that may leave some postmasters who have 30 years' service with just one year's income because the package will be taxed. The remaining option is to engage in a new contract which puts huge commitments on the postmaster but which may not be financially viable and which interferes with the post office tenure. It is very unattractive. They are being offered a Hobson's choice. I would like the Minister to respond on those issues.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I thank Deputy Harty for raising this important issue. I am acutely conscious of the value that is placed by communities, both urban and rural, on services provided by the post offices. As the Deputy knows, I am committed not only to protecting the post office network but to ensuring that the services provided within the network are improved and expanded. In fact, to prove that commitment, at the end of last year the Government gave €30 million in State funding to An Post - €15 million to support the renewal of the post office network and €15 million to protect the five-day a week mail delivery service. The company is now planning to invest €50 million in growing and modernising the network in the coming years.

I accept that the company and the post office network face huge challenges. However, the fact the network is spread throughout the country, in every single parish and community, provides us with a unique opportunity. I fundamentally disagree with the Deputy that moving services online and through digital will lead to the closure of the post office network. In fact, I believe that is the key to the survival of the post office network. To take, for example, banking services, we have seen how all of the major banks move out of rural communities and force people to go online. There is now an opportunity for the post office network to provide a counter service to those people who either do not want to use the online option or are not able to use it. There is active discussion at the moment between An Post and the commercial banks in respect of providing those services in every post office. An Post intends to go further and provide a real banking choice to people throughout the country and it is currently in negotiations to provide enhanced and improved financial services within the network.

I agree with the Deputy that there is a challenge and that there has been inertia within Government in the context of moving services through the post office network. While we have to be conscious of the procurement process involved in that, there is a commitment from the Minister of State, Deputy Seán Kyne, and the Ministers for Rural and Community Development and Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Deputies Michael Ring and Regina Doherty. We have renewed the social welfare contract and while it has reduced, thankfully, as fewer people are relying on social welfare and the number in employment has increased, nonetheless, there is an opportunity to provide an offline avenue for people to access Government services. That is why, working with the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Deputy Ring, with an allocation of €80,000, we now have a digital assist pilot scheme in ten post offices throughout the country, whereby we can provide Government online services through an offline platform with the local post office. As I said, ten post offices have initially been selected by the IPU at the following locations: Austin Friar Street, Mullingar, County Westmeath; Ballaghaderreen, County Roscommon; Bandon, County Cork; Buncrana, County Donegal; Claremorris, County Mayo; Dingle, County Kerry; Loughboy, County Kilkenny; Oranmore, County Galway; Portarlington, County Laois; and Tubercurry, County Sligo. We intend to provide an offline avenue for Government services through those ten post offices and, based on our learning from that, to expand it right across the country, bringing Government services as close as possible to a one-stop-shop mechanism.

We are also committing, through the negotiations we have had with the IPU and given the 80% endorsement by IPU members, that there will be no compulsory closures of post offices across the country. We are working with colleagues to put more Government services, including motor tax, through the post office network and to use digital platforms as a mechanism to provide many more such services locally.

Michael Harty (Clare, Independent)
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In County Clare, those who run 14 post offices have been offered exit packages. Rather than being offered extra services supplied through the post offices, they are being asked to leave the service when they do not want to do so. The Minister spoke about there being no compulsory closures but, effectively, what is being offered to the postmasters amounts to compulsory closure. They are being given a Hobson's choice by virtue of the fact that unacceptable financial burdens are being placed on them to sign new contracts, remain on the existing contracts with diminishing incomes or take the exit package, which is completely unacceptable to most postmasters and postmistresses who have 20, 30 or 40 years' service. Rather than devolving services to post offices, the Minister is actually showing them the door and asking them to walk through it.

The Minister has to bring this down to each individual community. He speaks in global terms but each individual post office is an essential service within the community. No matter what he says about millions being offered and investment being put in, unless they are offered additional services which are meaningful to the public, they will have to close. Post offices should not be subject to market forces. A post office is an essential part of a community and if it goes, it will never return. If they are subjected to market forces, many of these post offices will not remain in operation. They need extra services, for example, banking services and, ideally, a community banking service. Many of the postmasters who have been offered this exit package are very upset because they are being put under social pressure by their communities to remain open, even though it is not financially viable to do so, and they feel very hurt by this. The Minister needs to introduce a financially sustainable model that will allow post offices to continue. He must consult with communities, local community organisations, Leader, Irish Rural Link and the farming organisations before any post office is allowed to wither on the vine.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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A clear protocol has been put in place regarding any post office that is to be considered for closure. It will be the postmaster who will initially decide whether they want to take that road. If they do want to take that road, there is a mechanism to look at alternative options, including whether there are other businesses in the community that are willing to take it on.

To give practical examples, there is one case where there are two post offices within 700 yd. of each other.

There are many examples around the country of the community bypassing its local post office and going somewhere else to avail of post office services. They are the practical examples of what is happening and Deputy Harty knows them as I do. We need to be realistic about this.

The post office is an essential part of the community and that is why I want to put more government services through it. We need to reform the existing contract which goes back to 1907. It is not fit for purpose today and no one can say that it is. We have a new contract and active negotiations across Government on putting in new services. We have active negotiations with An Post about putting new and very different banking services into post offices across the country. It will take time and it is frustrating that we have not got the full package of services in place immediately but we have to take a step-by-step approach to this. My initial priority was to keep the doors of An Post open. The company nearly closed after I took over as Minister. One of the first proposals put in front of me was to reduce the five-day week postal service which I was not prepared to tolerate. We have an agreement with postmasters and the Government for the first time has put cash into the post office network, which had not been done in the past and we intend to put real services through the post office network, which has not been done before. Previous Governments have paid lip service to the post office network. There have been significant closures but now we are putting a clear plan and future in place and a clear plan to put new services into the post office network. I am determined to ensure that happens in reality.