asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will provide a sub-post office at Darndale Estate, County Dublin, as a matter of urgency.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - County Dublin Sub-Post Office.
23.
(Dublin South-Central): The estate and surrounding area are considered to be adequately catered for at present by the existing sub-post offices at Northside and Coolock and the establishment of an additional office is not warranted at this stage. The position will, however, be kept under review in the light of further building development.
I wonder if the Minister knows of the problem in Darndale in so far as it is a rather isolated housing complex, isolated in physical terms from the Northside Shopping Centre and it is very difficult for the people in whom we are interested, the socially dependent, the unemployed and so forth, to get up to the post office. I would be glad if the Minister would look into the matter again. There would appear to be a special case here by virtue of the fact that Darndale is such an unusual housing complex. It is an isolated, ghettolike place.
(Dublin South-Central): I understand there are two sub-post offices at the north side in Coolock within one mile of Darndale. There is not a very large housing estate in Darndale at the moment. I appreciate the Deputy's concern. It is expected that development will take place further north and if a post office is to be located there at all it would be north of the estate where probably further expansion would take place in the future.
Question No. 24. Deputy Boland.
Is the Minister aware of the physical difficulties for the very people who find it hardest to get from one place to another, the old, the unemployed possibly less so, the women with children? These are the people who would require a sub-post office in the Darndale complex. Would he not reconsider the question in the light of the peculiar circumstances with bad, or at most only fair, communications and transport services?
(Dublin South-Central): The position is being kept under review and if further developments take place it is expected that a sub-post office would be erected.
Is the Minister aware that now, belatedly, there are shops being built in the Darndale complex by different corporations? Would he not now consider the provision of such a service in view of the fact that there are no social services there?
This question has been asked twice already.