The closure of the rural post office network is happening across the country, with perhaps the single exception of Dublin. A Programme for a Partnership Government refers to: supporting the post office network and expanding and developing services delivered through post offices; expanding social welfare contracts; the provision of Government services through the network; the development of banking services by means of a community banking structure; and the development of post offices one-stop shops or hubs for Government services. That makes perfect sense in maximising the national asset that we have in our rural post office network and in supporting rural communities. These are communities that have had post offices since the foundation of the State, yet the Government is decommissioning these services in rural Ireland. Nowhere in A Programme for a Partnership Government is it suggested that there should be a closure of 390 post offices, which is what will happen during the lifetime of this Government. The Government is going to allow this happen.

Rural communities are not seeking handouts. An Post and postmasters are not looking for handouts in order to preserve their services, they are looking for what is committed to in A Programme for a Partnership Government. Fianna Fáil referred to the public service obligation prior to the budget. Perhaps this has also been discussed in the context of the confidence and supply agreement. The post office network is not looking for handouts, it is seeking to provide services that are meaningful to the population that will support rural communities.

This matter has reached crisis point. Some 50 post offices are due to close in January. A total of 159 will have closed by the end of the first quarter of 2019 and 390 are earmarked for closure under the An Post programme. This is not what was expected from the Government. Such is the level of demoralisation, there is difficulty in attracting postmasters to run post offices which are deemed viable by An Post.

How can the Taoiseach speak of a republic of opportunity without offering rural Ireland a hope as his policies reduce services within rural communities? Rural transport is not being developed, rural medical services are being allowed to diminish, rural financial services delivered by An Post are being diminished and rural broadband is not being rolled out. This Government is not addressing the sustainability of rural communities. Even at this late stage, will the Taoiseach call a halt to the closure of our post offices and the destruction of our post office network? It is not good enough for him to shrug his shoulders and state that this is a commercial decision when the social consequences for rural communities are so far-reaching.

The Government wants a post office network which is extensive enough that everyone will be within reasonable distance of a post office, which we believe can be achieved. However, the network must also be viable. The best way to ensure that it is extensive and remains so is that it is viable. The Government does not close post offices. In most cases, postmasters are retiring and are accepting retirement packages they have negotiated with An Post, which is a semi-State company. In many cases, there is no one willing to take on that contract because it is not viable. Where it is viable, the post office will remain open and if there is a shop or other service nearby which is willing to take it over, that will be considered. It is not just being left up to An Post, there is an independent review mechanism to assess viability.

Times are changing and we need to reflect on that and be realistic. Footfall at our post offices is decreasing. There are many fewer unemployed people in rural Ireland and, as a consequence, there are fewer people collecting jobseeker's payments from their post offices. More people who retire do not collect their pensions from post offices. Instead, they have it paid directly into their bank accounts because that is how they had been paid over previous decades. As we extend broadband to more rural areas, more people will access public services, bank and pay for their television licences and motor tax online. The solutions which are often put forward can be contradictory because the more we extend services such as broadband to rural areas, the fewer people use the post offices. We need to be realistic about these things.

When it comes to investing in rural Ireland, it is important that we invest in the technologies of the future which is why we are so committed to ensuring that the national broadband plan happens, why we launched the rural fund on Friday last, which will be major investment in improving the public realm in rural Ireland and modernising our towns and villages so that they are more attractive for people to live in, and investing in enterprise and tourism so that we can bring new jobs to rural Ireland. The best way we can give rural Ireland a good future is by investing in new technologies, jobs and services.

The viability of rural post office is under threat but that is because of Government inaction. A Programme for Partnership Government outlines a process which would expand services in rural post offices. Of course, rural Ireland is changing and people are moving to online services, but the post office is much more than online services and facilitating social welfare payments.

The Taoiseach referred to the independent appeals process. It is a sham. I am not aware of any post office that has successfully gone through the independent appeals process. The only criteria used relate to whether there is a population of greater than 500 in an area or whether a post office is greater than 15 km from the next nearest post office. Communities are spending vast amounts of time developing business cases to support their view that their post offices should be retained and in respect of the level of services that they would like to be delivered in them. All those appeals are being rejected purely on the grounds of population size and distance to the nearest post office. Times are changing and An Post needs to change. The programme for Government, to which I keep returning, included a process through which post offices would change; they would be given extra services, would act as Government hubs and be utilised. A national asset of 1,100 post offices should not be thrown away purely on the basis of an economic model which does not allow for the sustainability of the communities that will lose their post offices.

I do not think that the Deputy is quite correct about the appeals mechanism. I will check but I am pretty sure I read in recent days that a number of appeals had been upheld. I may be wrong about that so I will double-check.

The Deputy is correct.

It was one.

We want an extensive post office network which means a post office for any community with a population of more than 500 and ensuring that everyone is within 15 km of a post office. We must also ensure that any island with a significant population has its own post office. There is scope for additional services and this is happening. The Deputy will be aware that post offices are now offering foreign exchange services and some offer banking services, which is very welcome. We are also piloting and progressing digital assist for people who are unable to use the Internet or who are uncomfortable doing so. Digital assist will enable them to access those online services at their post offices.

That will only work to a certain extent. It will make some post offices viable and we want to do that, but we also need to accept there will be some post offices that are not viable precisely because the world has changed, there are many fewer people in rural Ireland who are unemployed and pensioners in rural Ireland, generally speaking, want to receive their pension into their bank account, because that is the way they are used to getting paid. People turning 66 are quite young these days. We also need to recognise that as we extend broadband to more and more parts of rural Ireland, those services that people say can save the post offices, like motor tax, banking and all of those things, will be increasingly accessed by people in their own kitchens, using 4G or high-speed broadband.