Feargal Quinn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister back to the Seanad. When he was a Member of the House, he took significant interest in all topics. He will have to do the same in his new job, particularly tonight, when we are dealing with broadband, the White Paper on energy and An Post and trying to squeeze all of that into this debate. The Minister must wear all those hats tonight.

I welcome the opportunity to discuss these three issues, but I will concentrate on An Post. I, like previous speakers, was delighted to hear Bobby Kerr has taken over as independent chair of the group. He will bring business acumen and new ideas to the position that will help develop the huge potential of An Post. It is sometimes forgotten that post offices are the largest network in the country, with 1,140 offices and employing approximately 3,700 people. When I was in An Post - I took over as chairman in January 1984 - I decided I would spend half a day each month delivering mail, behind a post office counter or in the sorting office so as to learn as much as I could about the system. This gave me a much better chance to experience the every day working of the business and to see the development of An Post from other perspectives.

The business development group Bobby Kerr will now chair will look at ways to broaden the service to the public.

I think he will query whether that could include banking and making public payments to local authorities, just to give some examples of the challenges. There has been some concern about the statement from the Government that there were no plans to allow the post office to offer motor tax renewal services. That could have been a straightforward additional service. The Irish Postmasters Union states it could have saved the taxpayer €63 million over five years. It would be interesting to hear from the Minister how the Government came to that position and if there is any possibility that it could change its position. I think this could be a massive benefit to post offices and customers in general.

I remember the discussion on the legislation to establish An Post. A major element to protect jobs was to include in legislation that a delivery to every house in the country would be part of the tradition. I do not think at this point that this makes sense in the future. I do not know how we will handle that issue. I do not know how the Minister will handle it. A concrete proposal of what An Post could do, is that every citizen in Ireland could have an official State e-mail address, so that everybody would have his or her own official State e-mail address. That may seem counter-intuitive as there would be less mail, but businesses like An Post have to evolve with the time and it could be a leader in communication technology. The Government should seize the opportunity to give An Post this mandate. That would mean that communication from the hospital, tax office, court, post office and so on, would not be by a physical letter but one would get an e-mail. I know that might threaten jobs and certainly the post office unions would not be happy, but it would mean that masses of paper and printing costs could be saved, especially by State bodies. This would of course save money and time as well as paper.

There could be an opt-out for people unfamiliar with technology, people living on their own and the elderly. It would encourage more people in businesses to go online. It would show that Ireland is an advanced place to do business. In France, for instance, the post office managed to convince the local authorities in a number of local states to allow the postman to act as the link with elderly people living on their own. It is only a small gesture and I do not know how much has been taken, but it seems that we will wear a different hat than we wore in 1984, when we said we would try to protect the jobs of those people working in the post office. There may be different ways of being able to do that. Look at Denmark, where legislation was introduced to ensure that businesses have digital post offices, that is registered mail addresses so that they can receive secure communication from the state or the state authorities. It is starting to replace physical mail with a digital postal service. It is now compulsory for members of the public to register their change of address, emigration, their marriage application or even a bicycle theft on the Internet. The aim is to move 80% of communication with public authorities in Denmark from paper to the web by the end of this year. Denmark estimates that it will save nearly €300 million.

In this day and age why are State institutions, such as hospitals, still sending out letters for appointments? Denmark has recognised that this is a thing of the past and states that it will save paper, money and make things more secure. Could An Post be the organisation responsible for digital postal boxes here? We could save millions of euro and really improve the level of customer service by going down this route. An Post could be a leading force if we decide to take that route. Will the Minister state if the Government is willing to consider giving An Post this opportunity? Of course, high quality broadband is essential for such a system to be successful but I have confidence in the Minister's assurance that high quality broadband will happen.

There are many ideas that An Post should consider. Many of them have been piloted by private businesses but could translate well into An Post. One of the problems in the background in this country is that of the dispersal of people in rural areas which results in increased costs in postal, energy and transportation services. In some towns in France, the post is no longer delivered to one's door but post boxes are located at the front of estates. This would save time and money and is an idea with a great deal of potential. Obviously, it would not be enthusiastically received by unions who are insisting that the post is delivered to every house. It seems to me as a person wearing both hats that we must take steps.

Another interesting idea is that private companies are charging shoppers a fee to retrieve a package from one of the locations around the country. The thinking is that delivery firms can save a lot of money by sending a batch of parcels to a single place where delivery is guaranteed. I know the real problem we have is that every time one takes a step in that direction one is threatening the jobs in An Post. We will have to reach that position at some time or other, but it seems to me that we could save jobs by giving An Post extra responsibility, perhaps in that area.

In Estonia there are self-service post offices, where customers open a locker via a text message with a code. The concept means that the collection points are located mostly in supermarkets.

The Minister does not have an easy job. I wish him well and I have every confidence that, together with Mr. Bobby Kerr and his team, he will be able to come up with welcome initiatives.