Frank Feighan (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State to the House to discuss this important matter. I call on the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources to outline the actions he proposes to take to resolve the impending postal dispute. Thousands of members of the Communications Workers Union will protest outside Leinster House tomorrow.

This is a serious issue. There will be a strike tomorrow and the postal service will come to a standstill, which will create serious difficulty for the elderly, social welfare recipients, small businesses and people who want to send Christmas cards. The Minister should intervene in the dispute as quickly possible, although I acknowledge work is going on behind the scenes.

The board of An Post decided in July to close the SDS division. The CWU has asked for a stay on the closure because its financial consultants examined the rationale behind the decision and found that SDS revenue should be higher and, consequently, its losses should be reduced. They want a stay on the closure until an independent party has been brought in to review the decision. I am concerned that the rural delivery postal network will be destroyed. It is a tremendous service and I am afraid it will be undermined.

The Government has intervened on a number of occasions in disputes at CIE and Bus Éireann. European law does not allow governments to support postal services but the British Government has invested more than £300 million in its rural postal network. A two-tier postal service is not needed but the Minister, An Post management and the unions must come together to address this serious issue. The Government cannot intervene per se but the Minister is working behind the scenes and I wish him well. The Government should find some way to provide funding.

The non-payment of a national pay agreement increase to the CWU workers is a sticking point. Everybody in the company is in it together and I cannot believe the workers have been overlooked for this payment. I hope this will be resolved as soon as possible.

Ivor Callely (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Senator for raising this serious issue. Mechanisms are available and, hopefully, everybody will sign up to resolving the issues involved. The postal sector has changed significantly in recent years following liberalisation of the European postal market and the movement of postal operators from national into international markets. Along with the increased competition arising from the liberalisation of the market, An Post also faces the challenge of falling mail volumes and competition from electronic substitution. It is important that An Post should be structured towards the newly emerging competitive market with high quality services and meeting customer needs the priority objectives of the company. With full liberalisation of the sector a possibility by 2009, the company must begin preparations in order to ensure that An Post continues to be a strong player in the domestic postal market.

In these circumstances and following the heavy and unsustainable losses of €43 million in 2003, the restructuring of An Post is essential if the company is to return to financial stability and to continue to provide customer focused services and sustainable employment for its staff, which all of us wish to see. The recovery strategy approved by the board in October 2003 sets out the basis on which the company, in partnership with the trades unions, can move forward. To progress the required restructuring, the management of An Post has been involved for several months in a dynamic negotiating process with the company's unions, including the Communications Workers Union, under the auspices of the Labour Relations Commission.

Proposals on restructuring, brokered under the auspices of the LRC, have been put to An Post employees and the result of this ballot is expected this week. Regarding the closure of SDS, both parties have agreed that unresolved issues will be dealt with under talks chaired by Mr. Peter Cassells and that process is continuing.

An Post and the CWU have agreed on Christmas delivery arrangements in a deal brokered by the Labour Relations Commission which covers overtime, casual workers, extra deliveries and so on. Specific local difficulties with the agreed Christmas arrangements which arose in Galway were resolved earlier at the LRC.

With regard to the general industrial relations unrest, the CWU has obtained a mandate for strike action from its membership. The first manifestation of this action is a one-day strike scheduled for tomorrow. An Post anticipates that there will be no postal deliveries and that company post offices will be closed. The extensive sub-post office network will remain open. Arrangements have been put in place for social welfare recipients to ensure minimum disruption during the stoppage.

As the Senator stated, the deep seated problems of An Post will not be resolved by strike action. The only way forward is for both sides to communicate and to use the industrial relations machinery of the State to tackle outstanding issues and, hopefully, resolve them to satisfaction. The critically important objective of restructuring the company remains an imperative. All parties have agreed that change in the company is necessary if it is to be financially viable and positioned to meet the competitive challenges that can be expected to intensify during the months and years ahead.

I urge members of the union, together with management, to work through the established industrial relations procedures to resolve remaining areas of disagreement. Negotiations between the parties concerned provide a superior basis on which to solve the problems in An Post compared to strike action which, at the end of the day, solves nothing.

An Post customers and the community at large are entitled to a postal service, especially at Christmas, and I hope all parties involved will ensure no further disruption of postal deliveries takes place. I hope that is helpful.