Dan Boyle (Green Party)

Many of these closures were decided on commercial grounds and population levels. That is not necessarily how these decisions should be made. Ideally, I would like the Government to examine the possibility of a rural services Bill. It should not be the case that a service in a rural area must be justified by population level and viability. No citizen should have to live more than a certain number of kilometres from services such as public transport, a post office or a fire station. If there were a legal or a constitutional requirement in that regard we would justify our role as legislators and public representatives.

This is particularly true of the post office network which offers the largest amount of person-to-person service which is needed, particularly in isolated areas. We cannot concentrate on the rationalisation that has already occurred. Instead we must identify the future of the network and how existing post office services can be enhanced and upgraded. Most of the rationalisation decisions made by An Post related to sub-post offices. It we heed critical mass and economies of scale in rural communities, post offices must provide certain services to a certain number of people at any given time.

These are the quality decisions of which we, as legislators, must inform An Post. It is a stand-alone body and we cannot be responsible for its day-to-day operations or its general policy. However, I hope my Green Party colleague, the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, who is responsible for the general operations of An Post and accounting for it to the Oireachtas, will take on board much of what was said in this debate. I also hope he takes a broader view than the spirit and wording of tonight's motion.