Paddy Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I support Senator Mulherin's request for the Minister for Communications, Climate Change and Natural Resources to come before the House to discuss post offices. She raised two very important issues, namely, business being taken away from post offices and the fact that postal orders, which are part and parcel of post office business, are not being accepted by insurance companies, which is outrageous.

The Senator also referred to driving licences. As we know, there are only one or two locations in each county for people to get or renew a driving licence. When the licence process is put up to tender, the post office would be an ideal partner for the centres that issue driving licences. Post offices could process licence applications and then forward them to the licensing authority or office. This would eliminate the need for people to travel 40, 50 or even up to 100 miles to get to a centre where they can renew their licences. For the remote parts of the country, the post office is an ideal place to process driving licences. People would be able to go there with their photographs and applications and send them on to the licensing authority, and then their licences would be issued them in a couple of days, a week or whatever. I fully support Senator Mulherin's request for the Minister for Communications, Climate Change and Natural Resources to come to the House to discuss the viability of post offices throughout the country.