Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I take it that nothing, other than the launch of the group, has happened since last April, when the former Minister, Deputy Rabbitte, announced a whole-of-government approach in this area.

I have examined this issue in depth. In the many years I have been a Member of this House, and for many years prior to that, the closure of post offices and the detrimental effect of this on rural communities has been an issue of concern to Members on all sides of the House. We must be bold. We need to change the memorandum of understanding for An Post. As in the case of the ESB, which has a public service obligation to deliver electricity to every house and business in the country, An Post should be required by public service obligation to maintain the post office network as it currently stands. Enough is not being done by An Post in terms of business service provision. We need to encourage it to focus more on this area and we need also to focus our attention on the generation of business that will sustain our post offices. If we do not do this, we, or others, will be here in five or ten years' time discussing the same issue. It is time we faced down this issue. We must also change the memorandum of understanding of An Post, given the change in its constitution.

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