I am very grateful for, and glad of, the opportunity to speak here today. I must declare a small interest in this. I am a postmaster. I have a district divisional office, DDO, and I deal on a daily basis with post offices and post office issues, not just as a politician, but also on the practical side of what it takes to deliver the mail. Of course, because of those two jobs, I have dealt an awful lot with post offices over the years. I acknowledge the Minister's contribution to the issue of safeguarding post offices. The Government is deeply committed to a sustainable An Post and post office network as key components of the economic and social infrastructure throughout Ireland. That deep commitment was outlined in the programme for Government, and the Minister rightly outlined that he was very much to the forefront of ensuring that the additional €5 million that was got was got because of his commitment and determination to keep our post offices open. He was right when he said that the Government can only do so much. Politicians in opposition can only do so much. I really mean this as an operator of a small post office. Every one of us says how good post offices are but how many of us actually use one? Do not ever forget this: a post office only gets paid on transactions. A transaction can be buying a stamp or a person collecting their pension. I recall a famous case about a certain post office in a certain place that was closing. A lot of older, very nice people came on the day. They were lamenting the fact that the post office was closing and were there for the picture of the closing. When the picture was taken, the man who operated the post office reminded them that if they had collected their pensions there, he might not have closed. That is a fact. If you do not use it, you will lose it and everyone of us as politicians should be encouraging people to use their post office. The nicest thing in the whole world you can do for small little lovely children starting out - whether it is a child, grandchild, niece or nephew - is give them a little post office savings book, put a few euro into it and tell them to go to their local post office with mum or dad, or when they are old enough to go themselves, and put their few euro into it. The sustainability of post offices will not be down to the Government. Yes, of course, the €15 million is a lifeline, but the Government cannot keep supporting something if it is not being supported by the people. We have 950 post offices across Ireland. I acknowledge the commitment of post office people - not just the postmasters, but also the people who work in the post offices. They are a very important part of society because they have a real connection with people. Number one, they are trusted. When the banks failed a lot of things in Ireland, there were two things we could be assured of and they were our local post office and our credit union. They are great places to go to invest a few euro, if people have it, to get young people into the habit of saving or for other banking facilities. Our post offices are about way more now than just being a place to buy a stamp because people can carry out so many other transactions in them and, as I already outlined, transactions are the lifeline to that business. I thank the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and the Minister for the funding that has been given by this Government, as well as everybody who is supportive of the post office network. Another interest that I must declare is a girl who is very important to me, my daughter Rosie. She has been a postgirl since a young age. She is out today in her postvan, delivering post. I hear and see first hand how important the five-day delivery service is. I remember one time a Minister who had the same responsibility as the current Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, said that if there were two choices, namely a five-day delivery service or an increase in the price of the stamp, none of us want to see the price of the stamp being increased because it is expensive to post a letter. However, the every day delivery service is important. Other countries are lucky if they have two or three days of a delivery service in a week. Sometimes the postman pulling into the yard or the friendly postman calling to the door and handing in a letter may be the only person who the person in that house sees for the day. The postman might bring a bit of news for people, put a smile on their face, have a bit of gossip for them and talk about the issues of the day, be it politics, football, or whatever is going on. The postperson is awfully important in people's lives and is really appreciated because they might be the only visitor calling to that farmer. It is not just about rural areas. Over many years, people might think I am always fighting about rural post offices. I am but it is about urban post offices too. A point the Minister always makes to me is that it is not just rural post offices. Urban post offices might be in a very built-up area but their business might be really struggling because people might not be using it. Even though there are many people around, if they do not use it, they will lose it. One thing I appreciate, which is a bit of a two-edged sword, is the success of Amazon. It is great Amazon is doing well but maybe when Amazon is doing well, the local shops are not. We cannot stop the tide and things like that from happening but there is one thing I will remind An Post, the company, of. It is facilitating Amazon and trying to make more room because there is such a volume of business going through, and An Post is grateful for that business, but do not ever forget the ordinary person who goes out and posts an ordinary letter in the ordinary post. That is as important as Amazon's business, although it might not be as much. Over the years there were very few parcels or boxes being delivered and the biggest thing people got was maybe a parcel from America at Christmastime, and it was a big deal when it came, but now there are parcels for houses every day because people are buying everything from the kitchen sink to items of clothing. Everything one could think of comes from Amazon. I should call it online shopping, not just Amazon. I want An Post to keep in mind same-day delivery. I would make that point to the Minister, and I know he is strong on it too. He has told me he is adamant we should have an every day delivery service in this country, and it is one of the last things we would ever give up on because the minute that every day service is lost, that would be a bad day for Ireland and its citizens. We want to offer and continue to offer the network. I could not emphasise enough how people should look at all the services their post office can provide. Not everything has to be online. People can support their post office by going in and supporting the business because there are friendly people working there and they are local jobs in local areas, be it a rural or urban post office. Where I am from in Kerry, I am so proud of the people who, through good times and bad, have kept their doors open. I remember the good people who were there before whose only source of income was operating the local post office. In the village I am from, we had a great man by the name of Denis P. O'Sullivan. He and his brother John ran a great post office for many years before they retired and I took it over more than 20 years ago. A very kind man by the name of Padraig Sweeney runs my post office now. These people are so important in their local communities. They are respected, trustworthy, reliable, kind and friendly. They keep an eye on their customers. Everyone in this House and in the Seanad surely agrees, although we might not agree on many things, we all want to keep the local post offices going because they are vital and integral. I know we have an excellent Minister in charge of it. I have every confidence in him doing everything but he cannot put people into the post offices. The people will have to go in themselves. Keep the post offices alive by giving your business to them, please.

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What did Sinn Féin do to keep them open?

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