Michael Finucane (Fine Gael)

Some time ago Members were invited to Buswells Hotel by the Irish Postmasters Union. Its members were concerned about the closure of post offices throughout the country. They were also concerned about the loss of income.

The House will be aware that recently the European Court of Justice notified the Minister for Social and Family Affairs that next year, the €50 million social welfare contract will go to open tender. It is anticipated An Post is likely to lose the contract because the Department wants to move to the electronic transfer-type system. In that context, we must be concerned that next year we will see an acceleration in the closure of post offices around the country. The post office is the heart of many local rural communities. In many cases elderly people visit the post office once a week to collect their social welfare payments. Approximately 70% of such payments are processed by post offices.

I am very concerned about the future of rural Ireland if we see the demise of those post offices. In addition, the link between the post office and elderly people has been very valuable and I worry about the future in that regard. I ask the Minister to come to the House to explain what is likely to happen. I would also like to hear his view on the European Court of Justice decision.