Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We had a very useful debate here yesterday afternoon with the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Alex White. It was perhaps too ambitious in that we dealt with almost his entire brief, from broadband to energy issues, communications, and post offices. Everyone made useful contributions. However, some of the important points were left out and the Minister did not have the time to answer fully all the points raised.

The Minister said that the closure of post offices has now slowed down to a trickle - he said there were five closures in the past 12 months - and we accept what he says.

However, I wish to highlight an equally serious situation, which is the wholesale movement of post offices from the traditional retail centres of provincial towns to the mega superstores and greenfield sites such as Lidl and Aldi which are out of town. Just like a church or a school, a post office was an integral part of community life in the traditional strong market towns with a good retail base, such as my own town, Listowel, for example.

Like every other town in Ireland we have witnessed more and more shops and traditional businesses closing. There are shops to let and shops for sale - everything but shops open for business. The only growth areas I see are in charity shops and, to a lesser extent, betting offices, which suggests a bleak future. Post offices have an obligation to the communities that support them. Many of the smaller businesses depended on the post office - the small shops and pubs especially on pension day and things like that. The Minister would be advised to come back to the House for a specific debate on that particular aspect over which he has control to a certain extent.