Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is almost like it is people's choice that they do not want a post office but that is not my experience in rural Ireland. That is why I believe the Government is not listening to those communities that are prepared to come up with their own solution to keep their post offices open. There are many areas where people have offered to run the post office, or have presented viable options for co-location, but this Government, as usual, presents rural Ireland with a black and white decision to make.

I appeal to the Minister, in terms of the appeal process, to have a look at these areas and to see what can be done and to work with people and communities. The approach to measuring whether 500 people live within the catchment area of the post office is entirely flawed. Ask anybody living in these areas and they will tell one of the dispersed nature of houses. Many of these villages have up to 600 or 700 people living in the outskirts so it does not take account of the true population.

As a member of the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach, I have attended many sessions examining the viability of the public banking sector in Ireland. As the Minister knows, there have been successful models operating in New Zealand, such as Kiwibank. I was in Germany last week to examine the Sparkasse model of public banking. Decisions to close the post offices mean that such a system would never have a chance to be tried out. I accept it when the Minister says this has been landed on his desk but this Government has been in place since 2011. The Minister rightly says the Fianna Fáil Government, during boom times, had room for investment and creative thinking to offer extra, enhanced services within the post offices.

We need to look at this again. The final recommendations of the Kerr report have not been implemented yet, that the Government can act promptly to close the post offices. This Government, the same as all Governments before it, is turning its back on rural Ireland. It is difficult to explain to pensioners and elderly people without transport in their household. The Minister knows the public transport system is not there. He knows the cost for people to hire a taxi to go to the post office and how unaffordable that is. There is also the social interaction that people have in post offices. A much better job could have been done in advertising the services that are available within post offices and it is something that needs to be looked at without spending huge money. It could be as simple as putting it on the church bulletins to remind people of the services that are available through their post offices.

I encourage everyone to continue using their post offices in every way they can. I ask the Minister to look at this and at the appeal process in the areas in which post offices need to be left because it is much more than a post office to us.