The post office service is really important and I welcome support for post offices across the country. It is particularly important for senior citizens in rural areas. In many rural areas the banks are closing and withdrawing services and face-to-face services. That is why it is particularly worrying that so many post offices are closing. In the past ten years, 19 post offices have closed in County Mayo. Let us look at the region of Kilkelly, where nine banks have closed. This is in an area between Ballyhaunis, Charlestown and Kiltimagh. As a result, post offices across the country - in this case in Kilkelly - have stepped up and have welcomed the customers who have been abandoned by these banks. The post office is really important. It provides in-person oversight to payments that no online system can replicate. I know of postmasters who regularly and routinely alert An Garda when there are instances of fraud. They alert neighbours when a local does not come in for their pension. That is the value of the local post office that the Government has to recognise. I also want to speak about the economic model behind post offices. We have to question why the subsidy is necessary. If we look at the postmaster economic model, they receive 55 cent for processing a bank transaction and 65 cent for a social welfare payment. The cost of a stamp is fixed centrally. While the revenue is static, costs for wages, insurance and regulatory compliance are rising. I spoke to a postmaster recently who outlined that the cost of his alarm system had doubled in the space of a year. Yet, his revenue will not double. In fact, the revenue he receives is static and fixed centrally. At the same time as this is happening, there has been a reduction of footfall, as many social welfare payments have now migrated to bank accounts and so on. The Minister of State needs to look at this issue. Postmasters can play an important role in counteracting fraud. It is a very important one that is not being recognised by the Government. I believe in supporting the postmasters of Ireland but I want to raise a number of important points. The previous scheme was allowed to expire without any successor and this was wrong. It has meant that they were left with a gaping hole. They were struggling and did not know how they would survive. Regarding the additional €15 million every year, it is fundamentally important that is ring-fenced for the front line and that it does not get caught up in a central office in An Post. It is important the Minister of State guarantees this funding will go to the front line and will prevent more closures of the network across the country. We have to plan and reform. The postmasters of Ireland want to provide additional services, such as car tax renewal, renewal of licences and of passports and public services card replacements. All of these things can be delivered in the local community but it is important they are allowed and that the services are expanded.

Sentiment score: 0.03