Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move:

“That Seanad Éireann:

recognising that:- post offices provide crucial economic, administrative and social services to communities all around Ireland, especially to those in rural and isolated areas;

- many citizens depend on post offices in order to access basic State services, including social welfare payments and passport applications, as well as key financial services including insurance, banking and foreign exchange;

- this Government and the previous Government have stripped vital State services away from rural communities, including rural transport links, support for small schools, and rural Garda stations;

- previous post office closures took place as a result of population decline and not as a result of a pre-meditated programme to drastically reduce the number of post offices that are present in rural areas;

- technological and societal changes have presented significant challenges to the existent post office business model, and that significant change is required in order to ensure the viability of the An Post Network;

- the Programme for Government committed to revitalising the An Post Network through the introduction of new services; and

- there has been a Post Office Network Business Development Group since 2014, which made a final report to the Government in January 2016 that made 23 recommendations, which have yet to be acted upon;noting that:- it is the Government’s responsibility to provide equality of access to important services to all citizens;

- following the recent decision by An Post to circulate retirement packages to hundreds of post masters and post mistresses, 159 post masters and post mistresses have elected to take their well-deserved retirements;

- it is An Post’s intention that wherever a post master or post mistress has elected to retire, that post office will close, leaving communities without access to critical post office services;

- other European countries have already extended Public Service Obligation (PSO) payments for the purpose of maintaining post office outlets in areas where they would be otherwise financially unviable; and

- the proposed changes to a 15 km radius will place an intolerable burden on the elderly and most vulnerable in our communities, particularly those without access to private or public transport;calls on the Government to:- guarantee the current Post Office Network to ensure that all citizens of Ireland have access to this important service by introducing a new PSO payment for post offices, based on models in the United Kingdom;

- immediately roll out new services, as recommended by the Post Office Network Business Development Group and An Post’s own strategy, to ensure the financial viability of the entire An Post network; and

- prevent the loss of post office services in the 159 communities where post masters or post mistresses are retiring by advertising a new contract, appropriate to the local area and taking into consideration the potential for co-location."

I welcome the Minister to the House and thank him for coming in to discuss this sensitive and painful motion which directly affects his own constituency of Roscommon-Galway. In my time as Minister of State in the then Department of Posts and Telegraphs, I appointed postmasters in Ballaghderreen, Ballinaheglish, Mount Talbot and Monasteraden. It was a matter of appoint, appoint and disappoint. There was tremendous competition at that time for the position of postmaster or postmistress in a village. Lisacul was another place where there was stiff competition between two excellent candidates. The postmaster there, Mr. McCann, became president of the Irish Postmasters Union, IPU. He was from Cavan. I consulted my former colleague, the late John Wilson. When he was delegating responsibility to me, he told me to look after every file but to consult him about Cavan, which I did. That was then and this is now. I also remember that the position in Ballaghderreen was particularly hotly contested. It is worth looking at the file for that particular post office. There was also a massive debate in a village called Ballintubber on the matter. There was a serious local dispute between two families. The matter was the subject of serious debate but that was before my time in the Department. I should have accessed the file on that when I was there because it would have been worthwhile. In Fuerty, Castlcoote, there was also a great debate and the successful candidate, Ms Mamie Delaney and her husband, Mark, ran a successful post office for a long period. There was also a famous situation in Frenchpark when there was a contest between two active people in the village. One of the local Deputies had an encounter with one of the unsuccessful candidates at the time.

I have a long script but I will speak off the cuff because I was in the Department before An Post was even created. A total of 159 post offices are due to close. I am glad the Minister is present because I wish to make a number of requests of him and to discuss the current situation with him. The following post offices are due to close in Roscommon: Athleague, Cornafulla, Garranlahan, Knockvicar and Loughglynn. The post offices in Galway, which are located in the Minister's constituency, that are due to close are: Ballymoe, Glinsk, Menlough, Woodlawn, New Inn and Eyrecourt. I had a close involvement with the IPU when I was in the Department. That union primarily represents the sub-postmasters and postmasters. Many people do not realise that most of them were not direct employees of An Post or of the Department. They were subcontractors essentially. They had built up a relationship with their customers and were on the front line, providing State services in their post offices. They provided enormously valuable services in every area, not just postal services but information services to tourists and so on. People could go to the post office to trace relations, friends and so on. It is a wonderful network which has worked extremely well. I respect the fact that if people feel they have served their time, they have a right to retire, whether it is on medical, age or personal grounds. Nobody disputes that because it is their prerogative.However, they are really accepting it on a personal basis. The Minister's responsibility is to look at the localities and at the social and economic affect of the closure of a post office on a village or an area, above and beyond the concern of the Irish Postmasters' Union to negotiate an agreement. That agreement is quite attractive and it is well deserved because they have served the State well.

I refer to my parish of Athleague but I can refer also to other places affected because I know them well, including Loughglinn, Knockvicar, Garranlahan and Cornafulla. Athleague is very much a thriving village. There are 420 families there, which is much more than 500 people. There is a very successful Kepak factory there, which is a major exporter of beef and lamb around the world. The village has a restaurant, shops, including grocery shops, and two very successful public houses. It had four public houses but there are two now. It is a thriving village on the road to Galway. In the circumstances, the postmaster, or postmistress, should be replaced and the services should continue in the same location. The Minister should negotiate with family members in that regard. I know they are interested as they have indicated that they are. The Minister was at a public meeting at Athleague hall and he is aware that Mr. Niall Connaughton made a very good speech at it and indicated that he was very interested in continuing the post office in Athleague. That would be very welcome to the people of the village. Mrs. Josephine Connaughton provided an extremely good service and it was well regarded.

The services at Four Roads and Rahara have been closed, so Athleague was providing an important service. Fuerty no longer has a full post office but a post outlet. However, it is also providing a very good service. In some cases, there can be a form of substitution, but it is not as good as a full post office.

The full range of services were available in Athleague, including savings accounts and registered post. The current growth of parcel post mean parcels could be delivered to Athleague and collected by individuals who are out working and do not want their parcels left at their doors. This is one of the big growth areas for An Post and I welcome that. There has been a big turnabout in the viability of An Post, mainly due to the growth of parcel post. It is a very big growth industry and during the Minister's term the service has extended to Saturdays. That is a very positive point in respect of An Post.

I wish to put a few questions on issues requiring clarification. The Minister said there is an appeal system, but the best appeal system is the Minister himself. Ministers should accept their responsibilities and not pass them on to committees, that is, two people who are an "independent committee". There is no such thing. The committees will go along with what An Post says. I do not accept these independent committees. They were appointed in the first place so they are not independent. They will go along with An Post's recommendation and an agreement reached with the post office.

Let us clarify the situation. Where a viable post office closes due to personal or family reasons, that post office should be replaced in that village. If it has to go through a tendering process, so be it. That was the position in the past, where post offices were passed down. In most cases, post offices were passed from father or mother to son or daughter. That worked very well because there was a long-standing connection between those families and the area concerned. One repercussion of this post office closing is that a very successful shop will close as well. That is just a general point.

In fairness to the Minister, it would be good to clarify what exactly the repercussions are. What are the possibilities in Loughglinn? It is a very good, very active village with two pubs, right between Roscommon, Castlereagh and Ballaghadereen. Again, there is a case to be made there. Garranlahan is a village I know very well where the post office was very successful for a very long time. There is a post office in Ballinlough. Services will also be withdrawn in Cornafulla in the south Roscommon area. Again, it is a very good catchment area. I am sure that a post office in Monksland, which is a growing, active village could be considered. I call it "Monkstown" for that reason. That could be a possibility, if a person decides of his or her own volition to apply and is accepted.

There is a general feeling that pressure has been put on postmasters to take this deal. It has been a case of "take it or leave it". The Government did not give them any time to consider this. I apologise that I cannot get to my official script, which was provided by wonderful officials in the party.