For communities across this State, in particular in our rural and Gaeltacht areas, An Post is a vital public service. It connects people and supports local businesses. As my colleague Deputy Joanna Byrne has said, post offices are often the last remaining public service in towns and villages. However, successive Governments have allowed rural communities to be hollowed out. Every time a post office closes, people are told that technology or the market will fill the gap but that is not the reality on the ground. In Waterford, eight post offices have closed in the space of less than a decade. In An Rinn, in a carbon copy of what Deputy Doherty spoke about in Anagaire i dTír Chonaill, a Gaeltacht service, which was the last front-facing public service trí mheán na Gaelainne ar fáil i gceantar Gaeltachta, was allowed to close with zero intervention from the Government. Last year, I met Sean Martin, then president of the Irish Postmasters' Union and postmaster of Tramore post office in County Waterford. He said that €15 million per annum is required to stave off further post office closures and to make it viable for those that still remain to keep their doors open. This legislation will do what Sinn Féin has been asking for, and we are supportive of it, but it applies only until 2030. That is the key difference. We need to offer communities, postmasters and their staff a level of certainty. Equality of access should not depend on a post code. We need to ensure fair pay and funding for postmasters who have adapted to the enormous challenges and changes of recent years and taken on new responsibilities. They do not need to be lectured or told that An Post is a commercial entity. They have made the changes, found the innovation, made savings and brought in new business, but they need somebody to bat for them. I stress the importance of protecting post offices in our Irish speaking, Gaeltacht communities and our small towns and villages. It is not just about business and services; it is also about social connection and combating the isolation that is gripping too many rural communities across the State.

Sentiment score: 0.09