As other speakers have said, post offices are essential resources for communities all over Ireland and have been for centuries. They are a place not only to send packages and envelopes but also to gather to have regular interaction, particularly for older people. While many of my generation would welcome the increase in digital services, as I do, it is crucial we recognise that many in our communities rely on in-person interactions. Stand-alone post offices, as opposed to those at the back of the local shop, offer privacy and care in a way that a private operator simply cannot. At the heart of this debate on post office closures is the closure of community facilities and services invested in by the State over hundreds of years and focal points for the inhabitants of those communities. In my constituency, the local post office in Rathmines was built by the State in 1934. It has signalled that it is to close. In the first phase, the gorgeous Art Deco retail front will cease operations and be leased to the highest bidder, presumably the local Centra. While parcel collection services will continue, An Post has signalled its long-term intention to sell the entire site. Combined with the loss of the local town hall and the turning of Rathmines village into a thoroughfare of the city, this closure brings a palpable sense of loss emblematic of the broader decay of local communities. As one constituent wrote to me last week, the closure of the Rathmines post office represents a "Gradual erosion of a vital public service in Rathmines and the surrounding area ... it's more than a counter - it is a civic space relied upon by older residents, local businesses, and the wider community”. It is of the utmost importance that the Government look holistically at the question of community investment and development, particularly in Dublin’s urban villages, and how post offices provided by the State will continue to be a vital part of those communities.

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