Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State's acceptance of the spirit of amendment No. 14. I am happy that is the case because we should maintain a democratic basis for what we are doing. The ultimate authority in the State should be the Oireachtas which should have the power to review and make decisions.

I strongly support amendment No. 11 to which my name is also appended following discussions with Senator O'Toole who cited a number of private sector contracts involving significant commitments in terms of resources, planning, finance and personnel. He also identified that the providers had been given contracts of much longer duration than seven years, which is a logical way to approach them. International research suggests this country will only be able to sustain one universal service provider and it should be written in stone for the longest possible period that it should be An Post. If private operators are allowed into the market, we will end up with a more expensive postal service, regional disparity in the cost of delivery of letters, job losses, a loss of €100 million of taxpayer's money which has been invested in four automated mail centres, placing 2,000 jobs at risk. While mail services might become cheaper for large organisations, there is a risk of increased costs for ordinary consumers and SMEs.

Everybody's mantra nowadays is that there is a need to reduce costs. However, there is a risk that we could contribute to increased costs. If the contract is not written in stone for a more reasonable period of 20 years, we could put at risk the USO, which would be an horrendous outcome, given the dispersed population in rural Ireland and on the islands. No provision should be included in the legislation that could put the USO at risk. It is critically necessary that everybody in the country receives his or her mail on a next day basis or as close to this as possible. The percentage of next day deliveries is high; An Post should be congratulated on its success to date. People should receive their post the next day, no matter where they live for the same cost, irrespective of who or what they are. We will not have served the people well if anything jeopardises this.

This is sensitive day in the country's history. People are in raw form and it would not contribute to their good humour if they observed the Oireachtas doing anything to undermine the USO, nor would it be right. Senator O'Toole made a sound commercial argument in favour of the amendment. I strongly support his practical business argument by highlighting the desirability of the maintenance of the USO, jobs in An Post, investment in the automated mail centres and a low cost postal service for everybody, not just for a few major organisations. The other amendments set out to achieve the same objective.

I am pleased the Minister of State has accepted the spirit of my amendment, the objective of which is to make the Oireachtas the ultimate authority when it comes to making decisions on the USO or any other aspect of the postal service. As was pointed out last week, the Oireachtas cannot micro-manage the service; nor is it suggested it should, for example, supervise the output at Belmullet on a given day. While that is not the objective, the Oireachtas should have overall oversight and overall democratic authority in this regard.

I make no apology for Members thrashing out this Bill thoroughly as they would be negligent otherwise. I will conclude by stating, however, that it is not simply a fanciful concept that the postal service should be preserved for everyone or that it should be preserved for as long as possible for everyone at the cheapest possible price. This is not a fanciful, nice concept of mine and a few other Members. It is not esoteric but is a real issue for real people who live in isolated places such as the backs of hills, etc. I refer to people who have chosen to live there, whose families lived there before them and who have a right to live there. Moreover, such people have a right to a postal service of equal standard as that available to those who live in Foxrock, Killiney or Dublin 4. This is not an unreasonable proposition and, if it is, there is something unreasonable about us.