Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Working together, the Government and the IPU, notwithstanding the inexorable progress of the digital age and digital enterprise, can ensure there is a future for the post office network. This is a unique retail outlet. No other organisation has 1,150 outlets throughout the country and there is the capacity to win new business and create new products. My view on the fear expressed about the future of the social welfare contract is that the IPU should make common cause with the Irish League of Credit Unions and seek to develop the basic bank account that could be used for this transfer if and when it goes electronic. There are a number of such things that could be done that could prove very useful. The Government's social policy sub-committee will pull together the different strands and consider how to proceed from here.