I have serious concerns about a proposal by An Post to relocate a sorting office from Edmondstown in Rathfarnham to Lucan later this year. This facility has served people in Knocklyon, Whitechurch, Firhouse and Rathfarnham for decades. Closing it would be a particularly bad blow, given the recent closure of the much-valued and much-used post office in Rathfarnham village. It will impact postal services in our area. It will have knock-on impacts with regard to delivery times and general service levels. Instead of having a relatively short and convenient journey, people in Rathfarnham will have to travel across the congested M50 all the way over to Lucan to pick up their parcels, and that is if they have a car. If there were to use by public transport, it would be a two-hour journey each way.

An Post is a public service. Accessibility has to be one of its guiding principles, and this proposal is contrary to that. I ask that the Taoiseach ensure that An Post invests in the services locally in the Rathfarnham-Edmondstown area rather than forcing people to travel across Dublin South-West to get their parcels.

I thank the Deputy for raising this. That sounds like an excessive journey across. I do not know whether he has engaged with An Post on this, but perhaps he should. I certainly will alert An Post to the fact that he has raised it here and get its plans and background. Normally it does not do stuff that would result in a deterioration of a service. We had similar issues in another location and it worked out okay. I do not have the full background to this but we will raise it with An Post.