Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Last week I attended, as did many others, a briefing by the Irish Postmasters' Union and much of what was said made sense. All payments such as the payment of fines and motor tax should be done through the post office. I cannot understand why that is not the case and I would like the Minister to come in here at some stage and explain it. I would go a step further and suggest that there should be a new public service obligation for post offices in areas where a post office will not make money because it is not possible for it to make money. Similar to the transport system, there should be a public service obligation contract for post offices in areas where they are needed.

I agree with my good friend, Senator Mullen. A debate on the future of public service broadcasting in this country in essential. It is true that people are watching television on their mobile phones, laptops and so forth, but I believe that RTE has done a phenomenal job in public service broadcasting as a whole, if not all the time. However, we need a re-evaluation and definition of what is public service broadcasting and what is balanced broadcasting.

I thank the Cathaoirleach for his indulgence.