Results 2,821-2,840 of 9,052 for speaker:Hildegarde Naughton

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Future of the An Post Network: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jun 2022)

Hildegarde Naughton: I thank the Acting Chairman. I thank the committee for the opportunity to give an update today on the future of the post office network. I am joined today by principal officer, Ms Jenny O'Hora from the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications. Colleagues will be aware that An Post is a commercial State body with a mandate to act commercially. It has a statutory...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Future of the An Post Network: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jun 2022)

Hildegarde Naughton: The payment will begin on 1 January 2023. The pandemic relief fund was agreed and put in place. I worked on it with An Post, the IPU and officials in the Department. It comprised €8.5 million over 18 months and will come to an end on 31 December, hence this intervention's start date of 1 January. The Deputy's next question was on the €10 million following the Grant...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Future of the An Post Network: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jun 2022)

Hildegarde Naughton: Yes. I will explain. First, I commend Ms O'Hora, who spearheaded this matter in the Department with her team. This unprecedented development was hard fought for. This is the first time in the history of the State we have had State intervention in the post office network. A huge amount of work happened. I will give the Deputy a little background on the €10 million. There has been...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Future of the An Post Network: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jun 2022)

Hildegarde Naughton: -----figure on that. We engaged and the Department engaged with officials in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. There were two economists involved in this as well, so again this is all based on evidence and looking at the scale of population these post offices were going to service. That is where the €10 million has come from, namely, through an awful lot of research...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Future of the An Post Network: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jun 2022)

Hildegarde Naughton: As postmasters are independent - they are sole traders - it was hard to get a clear picture of the value and what was happening across the country. They are not State employees. The economists, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and An Post fed into this to assess the population, the distance within populations of access to a post office and the services they provide. There...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Future of the An Post Network: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jun 2022)

Hildegarde Naughton: That is a very good question. It is like a pyramid system and my focus is on the post offices that need the support the most. They are the target area. What I wanted to do with this package is ensure there is no postmaster who is closing because he or she feels his or her post office is not viable. The number one target here was to ensure our post office network is intact. If anyone...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Future of the An Post Network: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jun 2022)

Hildegarde Naughton: On the interdepartmental report, this is very clear. When I came into this role this was my number one priority, that is, trying to bottom out the offline services in that report. It was very clear, and I think the postmasters knew this themselves, that the offline services report was not going to be the silver bullet in itself. However, we have to look at providing offline services not...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Future of the An Post Network: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jun 2022)

Hildegarde Naughton: I have answered that previously with Deputy O'Rourke. Again, this was work on foot of information coming from An Post, working with officials in my Department, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and economists to look at quantifying the social value. It is important to say as well the pandemic relief fund is an €8.5 million fund over 18 months. What I am announcing...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Future of the An Post Network: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jun 2022)

Hildegarde Naughton: To be very clear, this funding package supports the post offices that are most in need. AIso, if a post office closes then it is not because there is a lack of viability or income. That is very clear in terms of this package. This is evidence-based. A huge amount of work has gone into this package over the past few months between NewERA, my Department, the Department of Public...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Future of the An Post Network: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jun 2022)

Hildegarde Naughton: There are 900 post offices in the network and they will all receive funding but on a pyramid basis. The aim of this funding is to help the post offices that are in most need. I do not want to see unnecessary post office closures and not because they lack viability for those reasons. Every community is afraid that the local post office might close so this week we have put in place an...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Future of the An Post Network: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jun 2022)

Hildegarde Naughton: I should have said the funding will be subject to state-aid rules, which do not allow us to give funding to a viable post office. The funding will target the most vulnerable post offices.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Future of the An Post Network: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jun 2022)

Hildegarde Naughton: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Future of the An Post Network: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jun 2022)

Hildegarde Naughton: The Deputy asked if the fund will be taxed. The funding is not a salary but is a State grant that will be paid through An Post to the postmasters.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Future of the An Post Network: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jun 2022)

Hildegarde Naughton: It is a State-aid grant that will be paid through the post office. Earlier I mentioned offline services. It has been made very clear that the report will not be a silver bullet hence the real need to have a financial package in place while those services are being identified but not just one Department, not just my Department and not just the Department of Transport. For example, the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Future of the An Post Network: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jun 2022)

Hildegarde Naughton: She did so much of the work.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Future of the An Post Network: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jun 2022)

Hildegarde Naughton: It must be an all-of-Government approach.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Future of the An Post Network: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jun 2022)

Hildegarde Naughton: Every Department must be involved. I agree with the Deputy and that is why it is not just one Department doing this work; in the meantime we have a financial package.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Future of the An Post Network: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jun 2022)

Hildegarde Naughton: I thank the Deputy.