Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail)

I concur with everything Senator Leyden said. The concerns of the union have been well articulated on both sides of the House. The figure about which I am most concerned is the one which indicates liberalisation in Germany led to the loss of 21,000 full-time and 12,000 part-time jobs. Something similar happened in Holland. We are now in an environment where jobs are critical if we are ever to escape the economic crisis.

The cherry-picking argument has been well made. We can all see how convenient it is to post letters to Dublin 4 but not so easy to post them to Knocknagoshel, County Kerry and that the profit levels for the two are totally different. There must be a mix. No one opposes liberalisation; it sounds like a free word in a free republic, but who is being liberalised? Those who have given service in An Post throughout the years feel their jobs are on the line and are concerned. Work remains to be done on this issue and we will all make our voices heard on Committee and Report Stages.