Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Minister to give the rationale behind the Government's decision to walk away from the question of the pricing of stamps, which is the basic issue. Will the price of a stamp increase from 72 cent to 92 cent or €1? I was at the Department a long time ago and something we would never give away was the authority of the ministerial office to decide this because it is a law of diminishing returns. The more it increases the less is received. The more competitive it is made the better it is. There are other options, such as an increase for express post.

I do not particularly like Ministers giving away power. I am dealing with Coillte at present, which is not under the control of anybody. It is a commercial semi-State body and it can do what it likes. My colleague discussed Bord na Móna earlier today. The commercial semi-State bodies have a loose hand in dealing with the public, and the Minister knows what is going on in our area because he was at the meeting. This is an example of the removal of ministerial power from semi-State bodies. They can walk into our area and try to destroy it with wind turbines and they do not care a damn. They do not care about the Minister or me and they do not care about the public. They are only interested in getting maximum subsidy through their work.

I will not second the amendment because I have not dealt with it and I do not know what its implications would be. I accept the Minister's response. I was away in London last week dealing with Brexit issues when this matter came up. On principle, there should be control over the cost of stamps. The Minister knows when the price of stamps increase the number of people who use them decreases. It is the law of diminishing returns. What is the Minister's rationale for this decision?

It is proposed to close 80 post offices and there is a lack of business in post offices. When the price of stamps increases the post offices' cut decreases because they rely on a percentage of sales to keep them in business. This is a very concerning time. I cannot understand why sub-post offices are not the responsibility of the Minister. Why are they under the aegis of the Department with responsibility for rural development? When I was at the Department, all post offices were the responsibility of the Minister at the time and we ran the whole show. We ran it without An Post and we made money, but that is another day's work. We were trying to be innovative, but we were not competing to the same extent with the Internet as it was just about to start.An Post made bad decisions on many communications issues. The company should be at the cutting edge of communications. It was in the best position to deliver a mobile telephone service, for example, as it had sites all over the countryside. However, we are where we are and the Minister has a responsibility to deal with this difficult matter. Will the price of a stamp increase to 92 cents or €1?