I welcome the opportunity-----

Sentiment score: 0.46

I will just plough on so.

Sentiment score: 0.00

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the role and importance of post offices in Irish life. We need to be frank. The post offices across Ireland, particularly in rural Ireland, are facing death by a thousand cuts. Some 257 post offices closed in the past decade. The vast majority of these closures, 78%, have been in rural areas. Anyone in this Chamber who comes from a rural community knows exactly what that means. When a post office closes, it does not just shut its doors. It deals a devastating blow to the entire community. The ripple effects are felt by the whole community. The Irish Postmasters’ Union has warned that without State support, 40% of remaining post offices will close. We must stop treating post offices as just another business. They are a community resource - one which provides critical services for older people, vulnerable citizens and marginalised communities. The Government should be working with postmasters not against them to expand the services they can offer. Postmasters want to do more. They are ready and willing but they need support to make it happen whether it is tourist information, voter registration or expanding the role of postmasters as peace commissioners, the potential is there. It just needs Government backing because without it rural communities will continue to be stripped bare. These are rural communities like those in Carlow and Kilkenny. It was devastating when Mullinavat post office closed. That was on Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael’s watch and that devastated communities.

Sentiment score: -0.07

There is not adequate bus services for these people.

Sentiment score: -0.17

To take something out of the community when there are no other services there is just not good enough.

Sentiment score: -0.56

No money will get that back.

Sentiment score: -0.30