I acknowledge the great work of the postmasters and all those who work in the post offices across the country. They have done so under immense financial pressure, opening at weekends, opening late providing tremendous value in terms of the social support that they provide so many people, in particular older people and vulnerable people. I also want to commend Catherine Delaney of Tulrohaun post office who gave 70 years of service to her community in County Mayo and who retired recently. She is a tremendous woman with a wonderful family who has worked so hard in delivering so well for the Tulrohaun, Bekan and Ballyhaunis communities. There are significant concerns about financial pressures that An Post is driving here. We are going to see the loss of further post offices over the coming years unless there is a significant change in how we support post offices. I will give one example in my area of east Mayo. I spoke to the postmaster in Kilkelly post office. Nine banks have closed in the surrounding region, including in Charlestown, Kiltimagh and Ballyhaunis. As a result of that, there has been an increasing level of service delivery in Kilkelly post office and in the surrounding post offices in Knock, Kiltimagh, Ballyhaunis and all those towns. There is a real threat that we are now going to lose them as well. I ask the Minister to seriously address this significant threat. We will see further closures particularly as postmasters retire. It is proposed to move the DSU unit from Ballyhaunis to Castlerea, which will cause mayhem in Ballyhaunis, including for the affected staff. Ballyhaunis has lost so much in recent years, including banks and reduced hours in the credit union. It is really important that we protect that DSU.

Sentiment score: 0.10