Seanad debates
Wednesday, 29 January 2003
Adjournment Matters. - Post Office Network.
2:30 pm
Martin Mansergh (Fianna Fail)
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I propose to share my time with Senator Feighan.
Mary O'Rourke (Fianna Fail)
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This is a great spirit of generosity.
Martin Mansergh (Fianna Fail)
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I want to focus on one issue, namely, improving the viability of rural post offices through automation. This is a tale of two post offices, one urban, one rural. The urban post office is smaller in terms of space and just up the road from my house in Killiney, which is not a disadvantaged place. It has recently been automated and business has increased by about 40%. I contrast this with the post office in Newcastle, County Tipperary, which is a fine village and very close to where Liam Lynch fell at the end of the Civil War fighting for the republican ideal. The nearest village, Ardfinnan, is about seven miles away while Clonmel is nine. The post office is important to this vibrant village which has a new crèche and whose GAA club is inclusive and covers many sports not directly related to Gaelic games. There are insidious pressures on post offices to close and rationalise. I understand this post office has difficulty obtaining the forms for manual operation.
We have recently published the national spatial strategy. We are also concerned about meeting our Kyoto Protocol targets. Surely we want people in villages not to have to make unnecessary journeys to places seven or nine miles away. A village like Newcastle is not asking for an industry nor even for decentralisation, merely an automated post office. I have been invited to a conference in Connacht entitled, Rural Ireland: Connecting to the Future, about the benefits of technology for people living in rural areas where the benefit is possibly even greater than in a town where one only has to go to the next bus stop down the road to find another larger post office.
I appeal to the Government on this issue because it has a responsibility to have what is called across the water "joined up" government where the left hand knows what the right hand is doing. On the one hand, there is not much point in the Minister, Deputy Ó Cuív, working hard on rural development while, on the other, State agencies are closing vital facilities in villages.
I am an admirer of An Post and Mr. Hynes as they do a good job, but I ask him to re-examine the position where people are keen and raring to make viable something which will make a real and substantial difference to a village such as Newcastle and, I am sure, dozens of other villages.
Frank Feighan (Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Mansergh for sharing time with me. Why has the Government subvented An Post to the tune of €12.5 million over the past two years when, as I understand, it is being used to pressurise and coerce postmasters and postmistresses to retire early from their post offices or continue on an agency basis? The criteria for obtaining this agency status are to sell stamps or pay pensions and open a minimum of one day a week. This will not ensure a continuing service in rural Ireland. Instead, it will be the death knell. Will the Minister intervene with An Post to ensure the money is spent more wisely, for example, in the promotion of rural post offices?
Tom Parlon (Laois-Offaly, Progressive Democrats)
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I thank Senators Mansergh and Feighan for raising this matter. One of the first commitments given by Senator O'Rourke as Minister in June 1997 concerned the post office network. She promised that there would be no forced closures of post offices. The position of Government has not changed since. We remain committed to a viable and competitive post office network.
I draw the attention of the House to the White Paper on Rural Development which formally and unambiguously recognised for the first time the special role of the post office network in the community and gave an explicit commitment, not alone to the retention of the post office network but also to its use for the most comprehensive range of State services to all citizens. The programme for Government also commits us to supporting rural post offices. Such a commitment also recognises, however, that services must respond to changes in rural society. The post office network must be modernised to meet the needs of rural customers. This requires the support of all the key players, including postmasters.
To begin the modernisation process, Mr. Phil Flynn was asked to act as an independent chairperson to progress discussions between An Post and the Irish Postmasters Union on the sub-post office network. Specifically, he was asked to review the financial and business environment of the network and examine options and make recommendations on the sustainable development of the rural network in the context of An Post fulfilling its obligation to provide a nationwide service. Under his chairmanship, the views of An Post and the Irish Postmasters Union on the changing financial and business environment were fully explored and the possible options for the sustainable development of the rural post office network examined in detail.
In his report Mr. Flynn set out a wide range of options, conclusions and recommendations which included an increase in the remuneration of sub-postmasters, the determination by the Government of a financial framework to ensure the viability of the existing post office network or an agreed modified one, the progression of negotiations on the conversion of sub-post offices to agency status, investment in the rural network, as well as the Government taking the necessary steps to maximise the amount of its business channelled through the network.
It was in the light of the recommendations in the report, especially the onus put on the Government's role, that an interdepartmental group was established to assess the options for the long-term viability of the post office services. This group's report provided the framework for the development of a viable post office network service which meets the requirements of both the customer and the operator. In the context of the report, the Government, in line with the Flynn recommendations, agreed to the introduction by An Post of postal agency arrangements and to increase the share capital of An Post by €12.7 million on the basis that this would facilitate the implementation of the overall package of reforms, in particular, through payment of a special increase for sub-postmasters. A pilot scheme for the conversion of 26 post offices to an agency basis and voluntary severance terms under the scheme were subsequently introduced by An Post with the agreement of the Irish Postmasters Union. This pilot scheme proved very successful and is now being rolled out on a nationwide basis.
The purpose of the restructuring process is to allow the postal services to be perceived as an attractive business opportunity, operating on a viable financial footing and meeting the needs of the community, both in rural and urban areas. All parties agreed that the basis for determining postmasters' income had to be restructured if we were to avoid closures and continue to provide a comprehensive high quality service. The pay increase for postmasters, which has since been implemented, is part of the restructuring of the operators' income levels.
It is very easy to overlook the positive side of developments in the network in the face of the undoubtedly severe financial difficulties An Post is experiencing and which were clearly anticipated in both the Flynn and interdepartmental reports. Business has grown by more than 34% in An Post since it was established as a commercial State company. Prudent investment in automation has equipped the company to be at the forefront of the electronic payments revolution. This is reflected in the agreement with the banks in 2001 in relation to bill pay facilities and the company's success, against stiff competition, in winning the contracts with the ESB for counter payment services and mobile phone top-up through the company's PostPoint service.
A further very positive development for the network and especially the rural customer, given the number of bank branch closures, is the joint initiative with the AIB giving the bank's customers access to their accounts through the automated network. Furthermore, An Post is developing enhanced financial delivery service proposals under the Government's e-commerce initiative and the broader e-government agenda. A pilot scheme providing public information kiosks has been introduced in CLÁR areas. The Government has already directed that the social welfare payments contract with An Post should continue and approved an increase in the fee payable to An Post for this service.
The Government recognises, as do An Post management and unions, that the company is facing severe financial difficulties which have worsened as a result of a number of factors, including the recent downturn in the economy. All parties also recognise the urgent necessity for cost reductions and other measures to ensure the company overcomes these difficulties. Despite these difficulties, the board and management of An Post and the Government are committed to the post office network providing a financially viable, high quality and competitive service to its customers, particularly in rural areas