I highlight the shoddy attitude big business can have to the ordinary man and woman and what it is getting away with it. I refer on this occasion to insurance companies, not banks. An elderly woman in my home town was unable to pay her car insurance premium by postal order. She sent a postal order to the insurance company, but it was returned and the company demanded that she pay by credit card. Ultimately, she had to get a family member to supply a credit card number. There is a cohort of older people and people from a certain socioeconomic background who have limited options when making payments. It is scandalous that an insurance company will not accept a postal order, for which a person has presented cash to the post office. This undermines the services provided by An Post. I can give someone a postal order to pay a bill and he or she can lodge it in a bank similar to lodging a cheque. I am bewildered that the insurance company in question would not accept a postal order. This demonstrates haughtiness and the fact that it can get away with it. I would like the new Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources to come to the House to discuss issues affecting post offices, including that of sustaining the network, which is always topical.

I previously raised the issue of trying to stimulate more commercial business for the post office network to make sure it had a future and that it could engage in activities to provide a service for the community.

We want the excellent post office network to remain in place. The Bobby Kerr report was commissioned in order that avenues could be explored and developed to make this happen. I would like the Minister to come before the House to outline the progress made within the working groups and, in particular, to pursue the issue I raised of post offices being allowed to process and handle driving licence applications on account of the new tender procedure being pursued by the Road Safety Authority. This would bring it into line with the system for processing passport applications and create new business. It would be another way to sustain post offices. I ask the Leader to invite the Minister to come to the House because this is an issue that affects the entire country, throughout which the post office network is spread.

Well said.

I support Senator Michelle Mulherin's request that the Minister for Communications, Climate Change and Natural Resources be invited to come before the House to discuss post offices. She raised two very important issues, namely, business being taken away from post offices and the fact that postal orders which are part and parcel of post office business were not being accepted by insurance companies, which is outrageous.

The Senator also referred to driving licences. As we know, there are only one or two locations in each county where people can obtain or renew a driving licence. When the licence process is put out to tender, the post office would be an ideal partner for the centres that issue driving licences. Post offices could process licence applications and then forward them to the licensing authority or office. This would eliminate the need for people to travel 40, 50 or even up to 100 miles to get to a centre where they can renew their licences. In remote parts of the country the post office would be an ideal place in which to process driving licence applications. People would be able to go there with their photographs and applications and have them sent to the licensing authority, with their licences being issued to them in a couple of days or a week. I fully support Senator Michelle Mulherin's request that the Minister for Communications, Climate Change and Natural Resources be invited to come to the House to discuss the viability of post offices throughout the country.