The programme for Government contains a commitment that the Government will act swiftly on the recommendations of the post office business development group. Over the summer the Irish Postmasters' Union withdrew from the talks with An Post. It also refused to implement the new smart account. This was due to sheer frustration at the lack of interest shown by this Government in securing our post office network. As the Taoiseach knows, the post offices provide a basic and vital service which serves rural communities very well, but 600 post offices are now believed to be under threat. What action has been taken to address the concerns of the postmasters? What action will the Taoiseach and the Government take to protect this vital service? Will the Government implement all the recommendations of the Kerr report? It is high time the Taoiseach and the Government stood up for rural communities. We have seen too many services decimated and we will not be treated as second class citizens any longer.

The Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment is currently working on a response to that report and a separate study carried out by An Post regarding its viability. Certainly, the Government acknowledges the important service provided by post offices around the country. We wish to retain as much of the post office network as possible and to find new business for the post offices. However, we acknowledge that increasingly services are going online and that as more people have access to high speed broadband fewer of them will use the post office in the way they did in the past. That will require the post offices to find new business.