Martin Brady (Fianna Fail)

I agree with Senator O'Toole and others that seven years is a short time. Eircom provides a good example of what has happened with all these new regulations. The service provided to the customer by Eircom has diminished drastically when compared with the service it provided ten years ago. It is very difficult to get a telephone fixed. It is very difficult to get a telephone in some parts of Dublin. One might have to wait two years, which is hard to believe, but I know it to be the case. A pilot scheme could go on for seven years to determine finances, to examine new technologies and so on.

ComReg plays an important role in this area as well. For example, it could designate An Post to look after Dublin 1 and Dublin 2. It could designate a competitor to look after Cork city. Naturally, we have to be careful with that. An Post has invested much money in its service, including millions of euro spent on new technology and so on in its main sorting office in Clondalkin. We want to avoid the situation that has already occurred in telecommunications whereby competitors can come in and piggyback on the infrastructure that has already been built up by the taxpayer. We cannot just throw all that away.

I fully support the extension from seven years. The period is too short. Senator O'Reilly pointed out that there are sustainable jobs at stake here. There are dedicated workers in An Post and they provide a good service to the public. We must ensure this continues.