Post office network review
Deputy MacSharry asks when an An Post-commissioned McKinsey report on rural post offices will be finished and what the Government will do. The Taoiseach says it is not a Government report, points to a separate Government-commissioned report by the Minister for Rural and Community Development, and says it contains proposals to make the network more sustainable.
The next question is from Deputy MacSharry. He is not being called because of his protestations but because he got in under the wire.
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Protest always works, though.
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I got legs 11. I have my numbered card here, like on "Strictly Come Dancing".
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Section 4 in the programme for Government, on pages 41 to 52, refers to the ambition for new partnership Government. It speaks of measures to revitalise all Ireland in order that benefits are felt in all communities. Villages are a top priority for the new dedicated Minister. It goes on to refer to supporting a post office network renewal process.
When will the McKinsey report, being undertaken by An Post in term of rural post offices, be finished? As of yesterday, An Post was not in a position to put a timeframe on it? What will the Government do, given it seems the Minister has no statutory function in deciding what post office closes or opens? It would be different for Garda stations, as we know from the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross.
I want to know what is going to happen. In my constituency, we have Ballygawley and, most recently, Easkey, but there are ones in every constituency and county that effectively are on death row with people wondering whether their local service will close.
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What tangible measures will the Government introduce to deal with that?
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As I understand it, that report was commissioned by An Post. It is not a Government report. There has been a Government report, which was commissioned by the Minister, Deputy Ring, which outlined a number of proposals that could be implemented to make the post office network more sustainable in the longer term.