asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the reason it costs 22p to send a Christmas card or any such card from Navan to Dublin, a distance of 30 miles, while it only costs 16p to send a similar card from Navan to Austrialia a distance of approximately 9,000 miles.

: The printed paper rate is applied to greeting cards with not more than five written words posted in an open envelope and the anomaly arises from the fact that charges for foreign and internal printed papers are structured differently. The lowest foreign rate is 16p and covers items up to 20 grams while the lowest internal rate is 22p but it applies to items up to 120 grams. For all items above 20 grams the internal rates are much the lower of the two.

The foreign rates are structured to meet international recommendations and the anomaly could be removed only by greatly increasing all the foreign rates, which would not be justified.

: Can the Minister ensure that people from this country cannot post letters in the North back here, and how does he propose to achieve that?

: That is a separate question.

: It may be a separate question but it is the same country.