Shane Curley (Fianna Fail)

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit as ucht a bheith anseo anocht don ábhar thar a bheith tábhachtach seo, go háirithe in áiteanna iargúlta timpeall na tíre. I thank the Irish Postmasters' Union, whose representatives gave us a detailed and passionate presentation earlier. I want to pay tribute to Sinead and Peter, in particular, who are from my own county in Galway. Their front-line perspective after years of rising pressure and change is crucial as we chart the future of our post office network.

The post office is more than just a place to post a letter or collect a payment. It is the cornerstone of community life in towns and villages right across rural Ireland. The post office brings people into the centres of our towns and villages. It generates vital income for small coffee shops, restaurants, pubs and many other SMEs across rural Ireland, not to mention the mental health benefits of mingling with friends while doing business in the post office. As the postmasters' union has said, this funding is not a handout, it is an investment in our communities.

I am pleased to see the Government recognises this. I welcome that the Government has committed €10 million over a three-year period in direct support to An Post to stabilise the network and allow time for reform and innovation. However, the discussion this evening primarily revolves around funding, and a detailed breakdown of the need to increase this figure to €15 million has been provided by the postmasters' union. We need to revisit and reconsider this. For the sake of the extra €5 million, the massive benefits to our rural communities cannot be overstated.

The transformation of the network must go beyond survival. It must be about ambition and long-term solutions. Access to cash in rural areas is vital to many people. The decline in the banking presence across rural Ireland is no secret. The exits of KBC and Ulster Bank have left massive gaps. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for An Post to step in. We already have the backbone of this as An Post has the largest retail network in the country. It has an IT infrastructure capable of national interconnectivity. It has a trusted reputation, especially among those who are vulnerable and struggle with digital literacy. That is a hugely important fact. What will it take to fully realise this potential? In our briefing earlier we were told that if one particular post office in the Minister of State's constituency closed, it would be a 34 kilometre trip to the nearest access to a cash point. That just brings the issue into perspective. An Post is doing its part. It is developing new services, such as An Post Money, and it is rolling out a greener fleet, but it cannot carry this burden alone. The sustainability of the network must be a shared national priority. We need to look at increasing the €10 million to €15 million as part of the package.