Ar dtús, ba mhaith liom labhairt faoi mo Dháilcheantar féin. Is An Post about providing a community service or is it about being a for-profit company and making money? We are not talking about Leinster House bike shed-type of wastage here or but equally the service in my constituency has degraded. Postal workers have been asked to cover larger areas. We know that the letter side has declined but the number of packages is going up as others have said. We have to look at it as a community service model going back to the days when there was a same-day postal service across the country when we did not have motorised vehicles. With the wider issue of social cohesion in towns and villages across the country, especially in rural areas, we need to rethink the post office. Whether it is linking up with credit unions or community shops, the post office should be seen as the heart of the community. No matter what level of service or what proportion is mail, there should be a post office in every town and village even if some of them are operating on a part-time basis. There are ways and means of doing that by providing access to national services locally, such as collection points for certain types of public service cards, driver's licences, etc., or as a way of getting cash or foreign exchange even if it is by appointment the day before. These are all things that can be done. There are many towns and villages with over-the-shop areas that are derelict. Our policy in terms of bringing in direct investment should be to bring these companies and their workers to rural communities and spread them out. They would have a better quality of life, more access to schools and they would keep more post offices open as well.

Sentiment score: 0.04