Ulick Burke (Fine Gael)

It is a welcome gesture for which I am grateful but it should be reconsidered in the current climate.

Senator Kitt will be familiar with the closure of two rural post offices in my area, similar to those referred to by Senator Mansergh. With the retirement of the postmistress in Abbey post office and despite strong representations to An Post by the community to retain the post office, An Post was hell bent and determined to close it at any cost. The post office is replaced by an agency which is merely licensed to sell stamps and which pays out the old age pensions on a weekly basis. We were promised a bill pay service but this still has not been supplied three years later. We negotiated with An Post at management level. They can delay a simple exercise such as this for three years. It is no wonder the situation is as it is. It is not the fault of the workers. The management will blame the workers at the least excuse.

The Leader of the House was formerly the Minister with responsibility for the postal service. On the occasion of a former crisis in An Post, we were assured that no rural post offices would be closed, rather that they would be upgraded.

A proper banking service was promised. Young people are no longer saving with the post office. The management of An Post must realise their responsibility to provide the traditional services. Saving with the post office gave young people a savings habit. That market has been in the main taken over by the credit unions. An Post is losing sections of the market through its own attitude. It is becoming distant from its customers and shows a lack of understanding.

As regards market values, An Post management is incapable of responding to change. While it reacts to failure in many areas, it is not proactive in devising plans to provide for people's needs. A glance at the list of post offices and changes in the service shows that we have had nothing but contraction.

I welcome the decision to incorporate SDS, the parcel service, into An Post. We have a postal service on which we can rely. Senators described how slow the postal service can be, with Senator Kenneally referring to his local service. I give credit to those who work in the service, as opposed to those who manage it, for doing a good job. I hope the good service provided by the workers on the ground who deliver post and the postmasters and postmistresses who organise deliveries will continue for a long time.

If Government subvention is required to deliver and maintain a service of the standard to which we are accustomed, the Government must indicate its willingness to support An Post in whatever way necessary. If it were to lead by example by expressing confidence in the postal service and indicating that it wants this valued service managed properly, the workers of An Post would respond positively.

It is a pity that the first people targeted by management cuts were workers and pensioners who were denied payments due to them under Sustaining Progress. Why turn on the workers? Is management so starved of inventiveness that it decided to take the easy option and hurt a large number of people?

The post office workers who marched to the gates of Leinster House included people who had given a lifetime's service to An Post and young workers who want to continue providing the service given by their predecessors. They are determined the service will be maintained. It is incumbent on all Members to express support for the continuation of the service. The Government must give a positive lead and the sooner the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Deputy Noel Dempsey, does so, the better. I am not certain the Minister is of such a frame of mind. He must reconsider his approach to secure the future of a service in which people have considerable confidence.

Unlike many postal services elsewhere, it is rare that mail is lost here, whether in large or small volumes. The occasional letter may go astray but the service provided by An Post has been second to none in Europe.