Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

First, I acknowledge and welcome the ambassador from Spain. I come from a place just outside Kinsale, called Minane Bridge. The history between Kinsale and Spain is quite unique, going back to the 1601 war. It is an amazing story. The presence that the Spanish still have in that town is quite unique. It is great to have the ambassador here and he is welcome. I also greet my colleague and acknowledge the death of the mother of the Minister, Deputy Peter Burke. It is a very sad situation for Peter, who only lost his dad in recent years. Obviously, the Minister is a fantastic public representative and it is a very sad time for him and his family.

I also wish to mention two other things. St. Killian's School, Cork city, received significant funding of €40,000 yesterday to help with the therapies that are badly needed in that complex itself. It is a short-term solution to a problem of how we are going to make sure that schools such as St. Killian's get the therapies required for the students. There are more than 100 students there. The 15 teachers and 39 SNAs do an amazing job with a cohort of children who need that help. I have been continuously calling for one of these schools to be relocated in west Cork. Children literally go from Skibbereen to St. Killian's and back every day. The journey is two hours each way. It is just not good enough, unfortunately. These children have learning difficulties and need certain types of help. The therapies are required. We need to make sure, however, that there is a more appropriate way to help our students. The funding mechanisms brought in place for St. Killian's are welcome, but a long-term solution is required to make sure we have a joined-up approach to make sure these therapies can be provided full-time on the actual campus. In the long term, we need to make sure that we spread out these schools in other locations. St. Killian's is the model we need to look at. We need another St. Killian's in west Cork because Cork, particularly west Cork, is challenging geographically. We need to have a school to represent the cohort of kids from that part of the world who are travelling all the way to Cork city at the moment.

The other issue is An Post is going through radical change at the moment. We have seen in the newspapers this morning that potentially, 12 post offices are being put up for sale. Significant locations such as Kinsale, Macroom, Skibbereen and Bantry have all been mentioned as locations that are in the ownership of An Post but are going to be sold. I realise there are issues here between postmasters and these properties. Whatever happens here, we need to make sure, during the relocation of these offices, that the sites chosen are suitable, that there is suitable parking and that they are located in town centres where people can actually access An Post's services. We do not want these locations to be put in industrial sites outside town centres where we do not have the appropriate infrastructure. They need to be near public transport, car parking and the amenities people are going to. If we do that, it will work, but if we pick sites that are slightly outside the norm, the knock-on implication will lead to unbelievable backlash. We need to make sure these sites are appropriate and that everyone can go to the post office.