Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Acting Leader on assuming the role. It is a great honour. A number of Senators mentioned the issue of credit unions and asked that the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, come into the House. We should encompass the post office in that debate as well. It was one of the financial institutions that stayed open fully through Covid and provided vital services to our communities, not just in rural areas but in urban areas and our cities. It is important that it is supported in that. I thank the Minister for Social Protection for the support she gave the post office with the moving of jobseekers' payments back into the network. We were suffering a decline of 12% in social welfare payments out of the office network, which had a significant impact on the business being done. It also impacted communities and the businesses around them. I thank her for that support and look forward to continued support for the network.

I raise the proposal for a new fire station in Ballymahon, County Longford. At present an industrial unit beside a housing estate is being used. The biggest tourism infrastructure project in the country has been developed in the area in Center Parcs, with over 2,500 people staying there every single week. I am going there myself tomorrow with the kids and I am looking forward to it. It is important that we have back-up for a project like that and that we have a proper fire service. The local authority is identifying a site in the town in order to build that station but we need money from the Government to develop it. I ask that that be prioritised.