Tá an córas oifig an phoist thart timpeall an Stáit riachtanach, lárnach inár gcuid pobail agus níos sine ná an Stát féin. I go leor cásanna, d’imigh an ról síos ó ghlúin go glúin laistigh de theaghlach. Tá sé dlúthcheangailte leis an bpobal. Tá sé sin tábhachtach. Caithfimid an córas, an bonneagar agus an t-infrastruchtúr a chosaint. Ní tharlóidh sé sin trí bhotún. Caithfear infheistíocht a dhéanamh le tacú le hoifigí an phoist. Ba cheart dúinn a chinntiú go bhfanann daoine san obair sin agus go bhfuil sé de chumas ag an gcóras daoine nua a mhealladh isteach. The post office network is crucially important. It is a service that, in many respects in many communities, is older than the State. It offers a tremendous community hub but also an increased level of services that people are benefiting enormously from. Again, a greater vision is needed. Ten or 15 years ago, you would have been concerned when you looked at An Post because of the trail-off in the number of letters being sent. However, the manner in which online deliveries, parcels and all these kinds of things have come to the fore since then has meant that a new range of services has come into An Post and there is potential there. The most common reason I visit An Post is with packages for Depop and Vinted on behalf of my other half a lot of the time. There are many services that An Post offers that were not previously offered. It is still the case we are seeing closures, unfortunately, and we need to look at that. When somebody retires or finishes up who was obviously passionate about it, too often it is not attractive enough for someone new to run it. In recent years, we have lost the post office on High Street in Cork city and the post office in Crosshaven, which were big losses to those communities. That needs to be addressed in terms of investment. In the context of the modernisation and changes that are happening to An Post, there was talk of closing the mail centre and the distribution centre in Cork at different stages. To my mind, both are now vital, given the increased emphasis on parcels. I will briefly flag the pension issue for An Post's staff. It is vitally important that the increases that are agreed are paid out on time at the earliest juncture. That took a significant campaign from pensioners and An Post, but there are more issues and I want to highlight that. There is an issue with the terms and conditions of the accord for pensioners, but there is also a discrepancy - a sort of two-tier system - whereby people who retired in January 2024 and those who retired in January 2025 are potentially on different pension rates, despite perhaps giving the same service. That needs to be addressed. I ask the Minister of State to bring that back for the Minister. While I welcome the increases that were agreed finally being paid out, there are still issues that need to be resolved.

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