asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs why the letterbox at Gernonstown, Slane, County Meath has been removed.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Meath Letterbox.
4.
The letterbox in question was withdrawn from service because the use being made of it was not sufficient to justify its retention.
Would the Parliamentary Secretary try to explain why a letterbox, two miles from the nearest post office and doing no harm to anybody, which was in fact used by a lot of people in the area—in particular, two families had posted one letter a day in it—had to be taken away? I do not think it involved a detour of a mile on the part of the postman.
Having facilities is one thing and using them is another. Some of what the Deputy has said is correct. On examination of the position there, the indications are that there were seven items posted in the letterbox per week—one per day. Therefore, one of the persons who claimed he used it once a day was probably right. I do not think it is justifiable to reroute a van a distance of one mile, six furlongs for the sake of collecting this one letter per day, the average posting. The Deputy asked why the box was removed and my explanation was that it was not used sufficiently. I do not think he can seriously suggest that the rerouting of a van a distance of one mile six furlongs for the sake of one letter would be justified.
The Parliamentary Secretary said that seven letters a week were posted there. Two people may have posted one on the same day. There is the fact that this box had been there for a long time and it involved simply that a post office van took a round of roughly an Irish mile. I understood that all the people of the country are entitled to posting facilities from the Post Office. They are paying stamps. May I ask the Parliamentary Secretary if he will agree to allow the box to be re-used for a period of, say, three months?
The point is that even though this box went out of commission some time ago, at the time it was taken out of commission, another box was erected in another area served by this van, an area where the need was greater. There would have to be a complete changeover of time schedules and all that kind of thing in order to change this. I think the Deputy is being a little unreasonable in suggesting that there is justification for restoring this box for the immediate use that was being made of it.
Question No. 5.
This may not be important to the Ceann Comhairle but it is awfully important to the people who used the box.
We cannot have a debate on this question.
Would the Parliamentary Secretary not agree that the other box he referred to is more than two miles from the one that was closed?
I agree—a different area.
It does not come into it at all and there is nothing extra except this Irish mile which the van was required to go. Facilities have been withdrawn from people just because somebody felt that they should stop collecting.
We cannot have a debate on this letterbox.
Am I to take it that the policy of the Post Office now is that even though there is proof that a letterbox is used every day, the service can now be withdrawn? Is this the new policy?
It is not the policy of the Post Office to provide letterboxes all over the country to collect one letter per day, which is the size of it.
Victimisation.
That is what you care about the people in the rural areas.