For the first time in 15 months there is a sense of optimism in the country. While this optimism is tinged with caution, it also brings with it a sense of anticipation and a feeling of hope. This is particularly so for SME’s across the country. These small and medium enterprises, SMEs, will form the backbone of Ireland’s recovery from the combined impact of the Covid pandemic and Brexit. In every corner of Ireland these businesses have shown a remarkable ability to challenge and overcome the obstacles they have faced. Failure to do so is not an option for them. The shared strength of every SME is their fierce determination to survive and succeed.

Before this pandemic, 250,000 SMEs were a major source of jobs and enterprises. A significant number are in retail, hospitality and in the service industry. They operate small enterprises that collectively support the economy in urban and rural areas. Their day-to-day running is dependent on the availability of business services.

Since the start of this pandemic, in addition to their inability to trade due to Covid restrictions, several of these businesses have seen the demise of banking services in their local areas. This was a major blow to many of them who were dependent on daily or weekly dealings with the banks. This blow was somewhat softened by news that post offices would offer limited banking services. Now, due to the failure of swift and urgently required action at Government level we learned on Tuesday that the post office network is on the verge of collapse as their appeal for help has gone unheard.

This is not a new story. This has been roaring down the tracks at us for many months. Postmasters have been warning of looming closures for a long time. They have repeatedly cited 1 July as the date by which Government assistance could save them. They have constantly questioned when the additional range of Government services promised in 2018 would come on stream. The fact that the provision of offline Government services is still being considered three years later has done nothing to help post offices as they stumble towards disaster. Now, with less than one month remaining, the writing is on the wall and a crisis is looming.

Of the 920 post offices across the country, 875 are operated by independent postmasters. From 1 July they face a reduction of an average of 20% in payment rates. This will render their businesses unsustainable. This will, in their own words, result in the "unrestrained closures" of post offices. It has now become a battle against the clock for survival. An emergency meeting of postmasters is likely to sanction work stoppages.

How has this situation been allowed to reach this point? Why has the post office network been pushed to the wire at a time when the recovery of our State is centre stage? When will the Government provide urgent financial assistance to post offices?

I echo Deputy Lowry's remarks on our small and medium enterprises, many of which will reopen over the next weeks, hopefully getting back to full capacity. It is little remarked, but it should be said more often in this House and in other places, that small and medium enterprises account for more than half of all employment in all parts of the State. More people work in small and medium enterprises in Ireland than in the multinational sector and the public sector combined. This is why the Government has put so much effort into assisting them through this pandemic in the past year.

The House will be aware that An Post is a commercial State body with statutory responsibility for the postal network and postal services. Decisions relating to the size, distribution or future of the network are matters for the company. It is long-standing Government policy that postal services should be delivered by An Post on a commercial basis, or at least a break-even basis, and not be subsidised by the taxpayer.

An Post is continuing to undergo a vital transformation as part of its strategic plan. To implement this plan, the cost of which is some €150 million, the Government provided a long-term low-interest loan of €30 million to the company in December 2017. This was to support and protect the renewal of the post office network and the continued fulfilment of the five-day-a-week mail delivery service. The subsequent deal agreed between An Post and the Irish Postmasters' Union in 2018 centred around a renewed vision for the post office network, a revised postmasters' contract, and an acceptance that new business lines were required with a focus on financial and new government services, along with capital investment for the renewed and existing offices.

The implementation of the plan has been delayed by Covid-19. As an essential service, An Post and post offices remained trading throughout the pandemic but they have been affected significantly. Despite the challenges, An Post reports a strong underlying performance in 2020 and is well positioned to deliver on its strategic objectives in 2021 and future years.

The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, in consultation with NewERA, is now reviewing a proposal for An Post to support the post office network in line with their plan and we expect this process to conclude shortly. In addition, the Government established the offline services group in March to explore the potential of a one-stop shop approach to the delivery of Government services and to examine the feasibility of directing more businesses to the post office network. A report on that is expected in July.

I thank the Tánaiste. It is important that we get on and expeditiously implement the agreements that are in place.

Vodafone recently conducted a study that focused on 500 SMEs in rural and urban areas. The report underlined that 43% of these businesses state that they could not have remained productive without having invested in technology. It also showed that SMEs see the future success of their businesses dependent to a large extent on the use of technology and upskilling staff in basic or enhanced training. At this time Ireland is ranked fourth lowest in Europe in digitalisation. Only 19% of small businesses are considered to be highly digitalised. The reason for this is lack of high-speed connectivity. The pandemic has shone a glaring light on this anomaly and its urgent need to be resolved.

Will the Tánaiste consider reducing the threshold for access to the online retail scheme to businesses with fewer than ten full-time employees? There are many small businesses in Tipperary and around the country that are deprived of the advantages of this scheme due to the threshold being too high. Many small businesses have three, four or five employees and it would help them enormously if the scheme could be adjusted.

We always knew it but the pandemic has accelerated it: the future of our economy is going to be green and is going to be digital. The world has changed in the past year or two. We have probably come on ten or 15 years in terms of the digital transformation. People who never bought things online now do. People who went to the ATM regularly have not been for months. People who never before shopped online now shop online and get deliveries as a matter of course. It has changed and it will not change back. This has consequences for post offices and for traditional banking and it has consequences for traditional bricks and mortar retail. I do not believe these things will ever go back to the way they were before. The world has moved on and people have moved on.

To assist the digital transformation there are a few things we want to do. We are investing in broadband. It is a huge contract of €3 billion. We want to get this accelerated. I announced this week that my Department will have a new €85 million digital fund to help businesses to move online and embrace digital and we have more funding for the trading online voucher and the online retail scheme, referred to by the Deputy. We will give consideration to widening access to this fund to smaller businesses. The Minister of State, Deputy English, is looking at this at the moment.