Marie Sherlock (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Comhghairdeas ó chroí do Sheanadóir Malachai O'Hara. I wish the Senator the best in the Seanad. It is wonderful to have another working-class voice in the Chamber.

I will raise with the Leader an issue related to An Post and ask for a debate with either of the two shareholders in An Post, namely, the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications and the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform. An Post is pursuing a cost-saving programme under which it wants to close down three of its directly operated post offices and outsource these services to independent contractors. It also wishes to sell the building that houses one of the post offices. Phibsborough post office, one of the three locations, serves a population that extends far beyond the boundaries of Phibsborough on the northside of Dublin. It is a vital service for cash lodgements for the many businesses in the area because we have only one functioning bank in the area, such has been the number of closures in the vicinity in recent years. When people in the area heard what An Post was planning, it caused huge dismay regarding the uncertainty of services, the building in question, which was built in 1893 and then inherited by the Irish Free State and renovated and rebuilt in the 1970s, and the complete lack of imagination by An Post, a public company, regarding the use of the building. It uses half of the building now to house its IT servers.

Some 2,500 signatures have been gathered in the locality to oppose the measures proposed by An Post. When the company talks about its journey of transformation or wanting to serve its communities and having commitment to community and inclusivity and says its purpose is simply to act for the common good and improve the quality of life in Ireland now and for generations to come, it raises a fundamental question about whether its bottom line is profit or fulfilling its public service obligation in communities such as Phibsborough and in other parts of the country.