Joe Conway (Independent)

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire chomh maith. The communication engendered between post offices over the years has been fairly haphazard throughout history. It may come as a surprise to people in the Chamber to know that we have had a formalised post office system in Ireland for the best part of 400 years. The notorious pervader of the wicked harrowing of the Irish population, the infamous Oliver Cromwell, in 1656 enacted a piece of legislation which, I understand, was an Act for the regularisation of the postal services of England, Scotland and Ireland. Some three years later, after the restoration, King Charles II enacted an Act of Parliament which set up the postal services. That, of course, gave rise to the Royal Mail, which we all know about and have heard about in the context of the intricacies of recent fraud cases.

The Irish post office service had some very famous employees. In particular, two writers spring to mind, one of whom was born fairly close to where the Minister of State is from in Fermanagh, Shan Fadh Bullock. Probably far more famous was Anthony Trollope, who spent about 20 years in Ireland developing the postal services and its co-operation with the rail service. If the Chair will permit me a little aside, he may remember John Major, a former UK Prime Minister, who was often referred to as the grey man of British politics. He cracked me up one night when I saw on television someone ask him in an informal interview how he relaxed from his busy life of politics. He said nothing delighted him more at the end of a busy political day than to go to bed with a good Trollope. Senator Cummins thinks that may be a bit naughty, but I could not resist.

That is the history of our postal services. The question before us today in the Chamber is whither now? Where do we go from here? I want to quote some lines. A Grant Thornton report commissioned by the Irish postmasters states:

A well-supported post office network is not just an investment in infrastructure; it is an investment in Ireland's communities, economy and future prosperity ... The Post Office Network is a cornerstone of Irish communities, providing essential services that support individuals, businesses and the broader economy. As a trusted public service, it plays a vital role in financial inclusion, rural connectivity, social welfare distribution, and local economic sustainability.

The report goes on to state: "However, without ongoing Government investment, the future viability of the network is at serious risk." I accept the bona fides of the Minister of State when he speaks about the €15 million that has been allocated to continue the upkeep of the network.As Senator Comyn said, though, it is really just plugging the hole. If I want to make sure that exposure is given to one of the other Government parties, Deputy Micheál Carrigy, who is a fellow county man of the Acting Chair and myself, mentioned in one of his press statements that the budget marked a turning point and that we were now responding to the stark reality that the current financial model was unsustainable. The €15 million allocation represents a €5 million increase on previous years and directly addresses the recommendation of the Grant Thornton report. Deputy Carrigy said that it was not just about keeping doors open but about reimagining the role of the post office in modern Ireland. He went on to say that, from financial inclusion to delivering public services, post offices were uniquely positioned to do more and should be given the tools to thrive. On that subject, what models or exemplars can we get from around the world? As far as I can see, the secret might lie in the business of developing a community banking sector with the post offices. Some would say that the credit unions are ideally placed to do this. As the Acting Chair will know from his knowledge of credit unions in the midlands, the big problem with the credit unions is that they are all fragmented to one degree or other and they do not work off the same platform. In contrast, An Post does work off the same digital platform and is ideally suited to integrate with Government payments and e-payments. That is one of the avenues for possible success that the post offices have. On the other side of the world, New Zealand has a similar population to Ireland. Some years ago, NZ Post set up Kiwibank. This had remarkable success in community banking, which meant giving out house loans at low interest rates and loans to SMEs at low preferable interest rates. This was divested by NZ Post and is now a complete government entity. Last year, Kiwibank turned a profit in excess of the equivalent of €200 million. Maybe that is the sort of imaginative thinking we need.

In the world of diminishing postal deliveries and the old model, I cannot help but conclude that the old model is doomed and if we want to keep this entity that is at the nexus of community services all around the country, we have to start thinking outside the box. Maybe community banking is the way forward. The two pillar banks that remain, namely, AIB and Bank of Ireland, are responsible for about 90% of the banking in Ireland. That is a huge monopoly and we can see towns with substantial populations and banks closing down. We in the Houses of the Oireachtas should be weighing in with our support of the Irish Postmasters' Union and realising the vital nature of the work that is done by the post offices. We have to begin to not just rely on propping up the service with a few bob here and there. We have to reimagine the postal services, the post office entity and the business model that is going to be developed and let us be imaginative about it. It cannot be beyond the wit of man to come up with something that suits the Irish economic model and to guarantee the future of the post office well into the future.