Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

-----in terms of the concerns expressed by the CWO. There are one or two other issues I would like to raise. Instinctively, I am in favour of competition. Competition has been good for us. The European Single Market has been particularly good for Ireland. In these troubled times, our exports are booming and our low corporation tax rate has helped not only multinationals but also indigenous companies and this indicates we are doing well in that regard. I have no difficulty with this measure from an ideological point of view. However, we should look across the pond at our neighbours in the UK. Our postal service was originally set up as part of the British and Irish postal service in the 1840s and the similarities, therefore, are stark, much more so than they are with continental Europe. There are many question marks about the effectiveness and fairness of liberalisation in bus and rail transport on the Continent.

What impact will this legislation have on local post offices? Over the past number of months, I have received representations from the post office in my home area and from other postmen because of the rationalisation that has been carried out in the name of efficiency by An Post, which has impacted not only on delivery of services and also on delivery times. I come from a small town of 800 people with a hinterland comprising 1,500 people in a county with a population of only 28,000 that stretches along the north-west coast. Liberalisation will have a particularly dramatic effect, as reflected by my colleague and friend, Senator Keaveney, regarding Inishowen. The representations I received relate to a reorganisation of the postal service. This has not impacted adversely so far but I understand it has resulted in a loss of employment. The loss of even one or two jobs in my area is equivalent to the loss of several dozen in an urban environment. What impact will liberalisation have on my local post office? The postmaster currently has a contract with An Post for the delivery of services. If there is competition in my area, what impact will this have on the existence of the post office and the services it provides? Does this mean the post office will be taken over by a competitor?

Mr. John Tansey and the CWU have raised the issue of the same price goes anywhere concept that has been developed and established by An Post whereby a letter posted in the GPO for 55 cent and delivered in Ballsbridge makes money but a letter posted in the GPO and delivered in Clifden or Drumshanbo loses money. What will happen in that context? Does this raise the spectre of cherry picking, which has been referred to by all sides of the House, whereby competitors could decide they will only compete for services in large urban areas and ComReg could permit this? There is a clear rural-urban divide and I am not confident that, because we have inevitably to transpose this directive, the proposals in the Bill give reassurance to rural Ireland that the efficient postal service to which we have become accustomed will continue. I am sure with the entrance of competitors to the sector it will be efficient because it will be much more money driven than to date. I do not reflect adversely on An Post, which is an efficient organisation and which has rationalised drastically over the past few decades since liberalisation was first introduced. The bottom line for competitors entering the market will be profit and the question about cherry picking remains. I do not want to over elaborate but I wish to emphasise there is concern at local level.

The CWU referred to the Finnish model. I have not had the opportunity to look into the model in detail but it is relevant because Finland has a similar urban-rural divide to Ireland. It is working there and I would be grateful if the Minister of State referred in his reply to whether consideration has been given to adapting that model to Ireland.