John Gerard Hanafin (Fianna Fail)

There is a difficulty other than the obvious one with the wording "except in such circumstances or geographic conditions as the Commission considers to be exceptional" which could change the universal service provision. "Geographic conditions" is not an exact term; the word "conditions" is a variable, as in the case of weather conditions. The geography of where one lives remains the same. The term "geographic conditions" would cover terrain which could change in that it could be muddy or dry. It would also cover climate conditions which could change, but the geography of where one lives does not. Therefore, the words used do not make sense.

In terms of appropriate installations, in the section we are allowing those who will enter the market to do so solely to gain maximum profit and at the lowest possible cost, whereby An Post will take on the expensive part of the service. We are allowing the commission the authority to possibly change the universal service provision. For example, people living on islands might not receive the same service as those living in other areas. Furthermore, post could be delivered to a central location. We would have a major difficulty with this. The reason we are happy the postman goes to every house is that he or she carries important letters and communications, including cheques. Once a letter is delivered to a person's home, there is certainty that it has arrived at that location. If letters are delivered to an installation, we cannot be sure cheques, including welfare cheques on which recipients depend, will arrive at the address to which they have been sent. That is a major difficulty. People are happy to pay extra to ensure they receive the level of service they are used to.