Sometimes I feel like I am in a parallel world here. If we tabled a motion this evening to protect rural post offices, I have no doubt every Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Deputy and every Lowry Independents would vote against it. Yet every single person is coming in to talk about local post offices. I live in an urban area and post offices are under pressure in relation to access for our community and ever-increasing costs. I am really worried about the increasing rents in urban areas, which will lead to commercially unviable post offices. Many years ago, our post office in Corduff was lost and never returned, despite a huge campaign by the community. There is no doubt this loss is still felt. I have been engaging with the post office in recent weeks on the postal service. It acknowledged there is a reduction of 7% in letters overall but a 44% increase in parcels. That is absolutely huge. The collapse of a private parcel delivery firm has created a massive spike in parcels coming through our local depot in Coolmine. The volume is so large An Post has had to erect large tents in the car park. I get messages every other day about the postal service. Important letters and parcels are being delivered late. Last week, a person was worried because the decorations for a wedding they had planned were stuck in the depot and they could not get it access to them. Letters from hospitals and other important things people are waiting on are not being received until late in the day or sometimes when the date has passed. We have to talk about what the postal service is. Is it just about delivering letters and parcels? It is not. Every single person who has come in here today has talked about the vital public and social service post offices provide. I was struck by what Deputy Buckley said about those two women who wrote to themselves just so somebody would come along and visit them during the week. That shows how important our public services are. It is not just about the postal services and post offices; it is about all our public services. Sometimes it irks me that we know the value of everything. Bean counters look for the value in things. How much will it cost us? What is the profit? What is the loss? We can never measure, and we never even attempt to measure, the positive social aspects of public services we had. When a motion is tabled on the post office, I look forward to all the people who spoke today supporting it.

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