Denis Landy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Alex White, and the opportunity to address a broad range of items within his remit. I commend the work he has done on energy policy.

I am concerned, however, that we have been awaiting guidelines on setback in respect of wind energy for almost two years now but we have not yet had sight of them. Communities throughout the country have been exercised. People within communities who normally put their time into positive activities have spent time organising campaigns against the proposals for the expansion of the grid and against wind farms. They believe the proposals and developments are being foisted on them. They have used the opportunity provided by the Minister's consultation process to voice their opinions. Thousands have written to the Minister on the matter through the consultation process. The question is whether we are going to see any action.

Will the Minister explain the delay in publishing the guidelines? Senators Kelly, Whelan and I have been told in the House and elsewhere for months that they are ready, that they are supposed to be published, that they are coming, that they are imminent and every other promise conceivable, but we have not seen them. In a nutshell, the communities we represent do not believe a word we tell them any more because what we are telling them in one answer after another is not resulting in any action. What is the current position? When will the guidelines be published? These are fairly simple questions and I am keen for a direct response.

I welcome the work the Minister has done to set up a new committee, under Bobby Kerr, to address issues relating to the post office network. I have been active in this area in recent years. I have met representatives of the Irish Postmasters Union on several occasions and I have organised meetings for them in the Houses. There was much scaremongering last year. In fairness to the Irish Postmasters Union, it produced the Grant Thornton report in 2012 which set out what needs to be done.

Since then, much political shenanigans has gone on. In fact, as the Minister and others have said, this Government has closed down few post offices in comparison to the last Government. Nonetheless there are concerns within communities.

The previous Minister set up an interdepartmental group on the matter and sought proposals and suggestions from every Department. I never saw the list of proposals. I reckon there are opportunities but individual Departments must let go of some of the functions they have for the post offices of this country to function and survive. The Minister should convince them to do that through this group. The press statements released since the Minister's announcement have outlined some of the areas that could be devolved to or carried out as functions of post offices. These include basic banking, as has already been outlined, motor taxation renewals, driver licence renewals, local authority payments, lodgements and withdrawals through the credit union movement, hospital charges, electronic form generation, insurance quotations and pension savings. All of these could become functions of post offices. However, unless we can get the will and co-operation of those who hold these functions at the moment we will not see a future for post offices. They simply cannot survive by continuing in the main to pay out social welfare payments alone. It is not feasible. Anyway, I am happy to place some faith behind Bobby Kerr, who has proven in his line of business that a network can be set up successfully.

The matter of petrol prices has already been well vented, but I wish to add my voice to the comments made.

Broadband is another area where I welcome the work the Minister has put in. I know the Minister is constrained by EU regulations in respect of how he can move in this area. I call on the Minister to leave his mark in this area during his time as Minister in the coming 12 or 15 months. If a person lives in Dublin or a large urban area, what we are discussing is meaningless. However, if a person lives in a small town or village or on the fringes, it means everything. We simply cannot function. On Saturday morning I listened to a person from Senator Kelly's constituency. He received a philanthropist of the year award and runs the museum in Strokestown. Not alone can he not use broadband or the Internet to carry out his business, he cannot even get a telephone signal in his office. He explained how his secretary had to bring work from her office to her home 20 miles away to ensure that his core business, which is in trucking, would survive. That is unsustainable in rural Ireland. I wish the Minister well with the work he has ahead and I look forward to his response.