David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle's office for selecting this issue and the Minister for being present to address the matter.

On 27 June, the Minister will recall that I raised during Question Time the issue of publicity post at An Post and the way it was being administered. The Leas-Cheann Comhairle may be aware that there are many zones around the country, but I suspect they were constructed decades ago. They do not make any sense, they are large and arbitrary, they cross county bounds and they cannot be targeted. In June 2021, I communicated with the chief executive of An Post and some of his people and made the point that the zones were archaic and presented great difficulties for business and, indeed, politicians who might want to use the service. I was told at the time that it was one of the features An Post wanted to include in its next service enhancement release. I kept communications up with An Post and it agreed with me, saying that, since technology had improved greatly, it should be able to provide a more targeted service. The responsible director was asked by the chief executive to look into it. Since then, however, nothing has happened.

As I said the last time I was here, they look like they were constructed during the time of the stagecoach. They do not make any sense. The Minister at the time agreed with me and said he had been talking with some of his own people, who were wondering why the boundaries seemed to be so restrictive compared with other boundaries. He said he would ask An Post to look into the matter. I have spoken to businesses since, and they tell me the same thing. They would use the service much more if it could be more targeted. I cannot understand why An Post cannot do this in this age of digitalisation, and have a more targeted and better service, a more user-friendly service and possibly a service that is not as expensive. Does the Minister realise, for instance, that if I want to send leaflets to Youghal, County Cork, for instance, they would also cover half of west County Waterford where I do not want them to go? I would have to pay for those and maybe go to the post office and ask them not to deliver them there. Other people in business have the same problem. The Minister said he hopes it is something that could be amended and developed further. It is a resource and other people are out there now taking the business that An Post should have, delivering these leaflets and other promotional material. Businesses that want to compete are finding it difficult because of this. It is archaic, unworkable, expensive and out of date and is perhaps something on which the Minister has an answer for me this evening. Has he communicated with An Post as he said he would? Has An Post come back to him with an answer? Is it going to enhance the service, as it told me in 2021, improve the service and make it more targeted and user-friendly for businesses and other people? I await the Minister's response.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I welcome the opportunity to outline the position on the matter. I am aware of the impact that decisions relating to changes in An Post operations have on communities and individuals, in both rural and urban areas. An Post is a commercial State company with a mandate to act commercially and, as such, day-to-day operational matters, including decisions relating to the size, distribution, and future of the network, are matters for the board and the management of the company and not ones in which either the Minister or Minister of State have a statutory function.

Publicity post is a service offered by An Post for targeted delivery of items such as promotional materials for businesses. As such, the commercial rationale regarding the publicity post services offered by An Post and targeted delivery zones of that service is a matter for the board and management of the company. Officials in the Department have on behalf of me, the Minister, contacted An Post, which has advised that the current operation of targeted delivery zones is as a result of operational considerations. Accordingly, as this is an operational matter for the management and board of the company, the Deputy will appreciate that the Minister cannot intervene in matters which we, as an Oireachtas, have given An Post a statutory responsibility to fulfil. An Post has an independent board with a clear mandate.

As Minister for communications, I have responsibility for the postal sector, including the governance oversight of An Post, to ensure the company is compliant with the code of practice for the governance of State bodies and the governance functions included in the statutory framework underpinning An Post. It has, over the past number of years, been transforming its business by delivering new products and new formats in the way it operates. This includes, among other things, diversifying and growing the financial services products it provides for individuals and small and medium enterprises to include loans, credit cards, more foreign exchange products, local banking in association with the major banks and a full range of State savings products. An Post is providing agency banking services for AIB and Bank of Ireland across its network of post offices.

Our Government objectives for the post office network include harnessing the opportunities presented by e-commerce and the digital economy and delivering a sustainable nationwide post office network offering a range of e-commerce, financial and Government services. The Government agreed that an amount of €10 million per annum will be provided by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications over a three-year fixed term from 2023 to 2025 to support the postmasters, with funding to be dispersed across the post office network. The funding is being paid monthly for each 12-month period. There has been more than €16.2 million claimed by An Post to date for the postmaster network.

The programme for Government recognises that a modernised post office network will provide a better range of financial services and e-commerce services for citizens and enterprise as part of our commitment to a sustainable nationwide post office network. The overall €30 million funding being provided to support a sustainable, nationwide post office network is in line with this commitment.

I regret there is not more detail there in terms of the exact operation. I think sometimes it would be no harm for us to get some of the detail of operational considerations even if we skirt the edge of departmental and ministerial agency independence and responsibility. I regret that the only core of that response is that it is operational considerations. I could give various hypotheses as to why that is the case. I have my own experience of dealing with An Post. I remember at the foundation of the Eircode system, which I was involved in, that the An Post route network was like the third secret of Fatima. I presume that is the underpinning of the publicity areas, similar to what underpins the eircode. I do not have more details in this response prepared by the Department, but I would be interested to hear the Deputy's theories as to what the operational considerations might be.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for his response and his candidness. I think he is getting the same response I got. "None of your business," is what they say, in so many words. They are getting a lot of money. An Post is a great organisation and I agree it is doing great things. It has done great things with e-cards and so on and was marvellous during Covid. This, however, is the one area I think it may not be interested in. It was probably devised during the time of the stagecoaches. If the Minister looks at the maps to see where the areas are, he will see they do not make any sense at all. They are huge, unwieldy areas in some cases. They should be more targeted. What really frustrates me is that An Post told me, in emails I have here from June 2021, that it was going to include a change in the next service enhancement release. I have contacted An Post since, and it did not tell me why it was not going to do it or make the change it said it would. My real interest is that businesses, particularly small businesses, would like to let their customers know what services and products they might want to sell, especially retailers which are under pressure at the moment. They cannot use the service locally because it is so unwieldy, out of date and archaic. An Post has obviously said it is as a result of operational considerations. These operational considerations have not changed in an awful long time. They are still the same as they were going way back. I am not sure what else we can do here. Maybe some of the board of An Post are listening this evening. Maybe it will be brought to their attention. Maybe they will bring it up at the next board meeting and ask the chief executive why he has not made the changes he told me he would in 2021. It would be a positive if they did and there is no reason why they should not do it. Maybe an Oireachtas committee can invite them in to ask why they will not do this. An Post is getting a lot of money from the State and should have given the Minister more information than he was able to tell the House this evening but it has not done so. Operational considerations could mean anything. I will not speculate as to what they could mean except to say that perhaps An Post just cannot be bothered.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I am frightened that I might intervene in matters which we, as an Oireachtas, have given An Post a statutory responsibility to fulfil. Risking that, I might well approach the chief executive. I, too, would be interested. It is a really good company that is trusted and well managed and deals with a large volume of transactions across the State. The underlying reality, however, is that the mail system is declining. Private letters are a thing of an 18th century novel. The core business mail, which was still maintaining a lot of the service, is also probably due to contract as people switch online. You would have thought, and I would be of the view, that publicity mail is one of the areas where you could run against that trend. I do not disagree with what the Deputy said at the start, that we as politicians have to be careful as we avail of the service. That gives us a real expertise and knowledge in the area. We can tell the merits and demerits of various distribution systems, unlike anyone else, because that is part of our business and An Post needs new business. I think a lot of it will come in digital technology services. The trusted characteristics of the company may be useful in a world where trust in digital companies is on the wane. As Deputy Stanton has said, An Post has been there since the stagecoach. That might give them a comparative competitive advantage.

In the meantime, there is still a demand and market for that publicity mail. If, as the Deputy says, the routes are designed in a way that does not give the necessary flexibility and targeted precision, I would like to find out why, although I would be nervous about interfering in operational matters. It would be good to hear, and I will try to follow up with the company and feed back to the Deputy any further information I get.