Seanad debates

Tuesday, 26 July 2011

Communications Regulation (Postal Services) Bill 2010 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages (Resumed)

 

7:00 pm

Photo of Pat RabbittePat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

We are retaining the universal service obligation. That is at the heart of the Bill. Every piece of post will be delivered to every house in Ireland five days a week. That is the commitment. A further commitment is that An Post will not be privatised. It is not this Bill that poses any threat to the future of An Post - it is the prevailing economic conditions and, more pertinently, the growth in electronic substitution. I said in the other House that the only people who write letters nowadays are Deputies and that is about it. It was a slight exaggeration, which is something that would not happen in this House. There has been a decline of almost 20% in postal volumes since 2008. That is the challenge facing An Post. It will have to diversify into new products. That is why we are in the circumstances we are in.

I think I have done a rather good job, if I may rather immodestly say so. When I inherited this Bill, the derogation was for seven years - it is now for 12 years. I am providing that ComReg may extend it for a further period at the end of the 12-year period if it so wishes. Given what has happened in the last three or four years, I venture to say it would be a brave Senator who would predict what the circumstances will be 12 years from now. I am noticing the historical alignment of the grand old republican tradition that envisages Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin coming together again. Sinn Féin has been consistent on this issue, but I assure Senator Daly that it will take me a little time to recover from finding Fianna Fáil rowing in on an anti-privatisation ticket.

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