I thank the Minister of State for taking the debate. I will start by saying I am a postmaster. It has been in our family for generations. My late mother took it over in 1972 and I have been running it for the past 20 years. I still cover the office on certain days or half-days during the week because ultimately, the local post office is the heart of the community. It is heartening to hear those comments from many Members. It is the heart of the community where I live. I was offered a redundancy package a number of years ago to close the office. I decided not to take it because it would have meant that the social hub in my village, and the footfall coming into the village and benefiting other businesses in the locality, would have been gone. A Grant Thornton report a number of years ago, which was based on a UK model, measured the social dividend of the post office network to the country. It came up with a figure of between €350 million and €700 million - averaging roughly €500 million - as the dividend of the post office network throughout the country to the State in support of local communities. We have received support from the Government. When I was elected as a national politician, I worked with the Minister, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton; the then Minister, Heather Humphreys; and the then Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar; to put a State aid programme in place. We worked with Irish Postmasters Union, of which I am a member, to put a three-year deal in place for State aid funds. We were facing in the region of 200 to 300 closures at the time, ahead of the package being put in place. We have put the package into the programme for Government as a five-year State aid programme - €15 million a year - to safeguard the network that is there. We have put things in place to ensure that if an office closes or somebody wishes to retire, the opportunity will be there for another business within the area to apply for it and provide that service. I am a member of a Government party but I am also a postmaster. We have received support from the Government to make sure we can maintain that network, but can more be done? I believe it can. We need more services because ultimately, we are losing payments because of online payments and direct debits. Many of the companies are pushing things that way because they do not want to get paid through post offices. I firmly believe post offices can do more for government - we can be the front face of government in all our local communities. I ask that we look at Department of Social Protection payments. I know there is a contract in place but we get a lower percentage of those payments. I honestly believe we would ultimately be able to deliver those payments cheaper. The Department's officials will not tell us it is cheaper but we need look at the amount of money that is paid back to the Department for payments. It averages about €65 million a year. That money, when paid into bank accounts, is lost. I ask that we look for all Department of Social Protection payments to be paid through the post office network because ultimately, it will be cheaper for the State.

Sentiment score: 0.10