asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs if he will report to the Dáil on the present position surrounding the parcel post difficulties in his Department.
Private Notice Question. - Parcel Post.
There has been no significant change in the position since the reply to the Deputy's Private Notice Question on 28 April 1982, Volume 338, columns 1447-1451 of the Official Report. The possibility of a limited restoration of the service which would not involve the normal use of Connolly Station is still under active consideration at present.
Is the Minister aware that parcels posted in Great Britain, Northern Ireland, the US and other countries are being delivered in the Republic and Irish taxpayers must pay the cost of that? Industries and commercial firms are being discriminated against. Goods manufactured by Irish companies for delivery here or for export cannot be collected by the Department of Posts and Telegraphs. Will the Minister tell the House the cost involved in having companies such as the Lough Swilly Railway Company, a company from Blarney and a company from Kells make the journey to Dublin to collect international mail for distribution in the areas for which they have the contract to serve? Vehicles belonging to those companies are empty on the journey to Dublin and are not allowed to collect parcels at the local post offices for delivery in the Republic or to be sent abroad. How much is that costing? Is the Minister aware that because of this difficulty small companies take parcels to Northern Ireland for posting and those parcels are delivered in the Republic? Those companies cannot post such parcels in the Republic. Will the Minister explain why the conveyor belt system which operates in Sheriff Street directly into Connolly Station cannot be used to get the bags of mail from the station to Sheriff Street and from Sheriff Street to Connolly Station? If that system was operated it would be possible to avoid this human conflict that trade unions find it difficult to handle, namely passing a picket.
I appreciate the Deputy's concern, a concern I share. The position is that drivers refused to pass the picket at Connolly Station and that caused a suspension of the parcel post service. When this matter was raised recently I told the House that the UK and US post was being delivered. I know there is considerable stress on small companies but I would be surprised if small companies in Donegal are attempting to post parcels because they are aware that there is no parcel post. I should like to assure the Deputy that my top officials and myself are concerned about this matter. We are working on it. In fact, one of my top officials instead of coming here to advise me today should have been at a meeting to try to get a limited service going so as to avoid using the Connolly Station entrance. I am not able to answer the Deputy with regard to the actual cost of the service but I will answer him if he tables a separate question or writes to me.
Is it not ludicrous in the extreme for private companies which have a contract for delivering mail to the Donegal area, in the case of Lough Swilly Railway, and the Kells and Bantry areas in the case of the other two companies, to be paid by the Department of Posts and Telegraphs to collect foreign parcels and deliver them to their respective areas for distribution by postmen while small companies in those areas, and throughout the State, cannot use the public service? Is the Minister aware that containers bring imports into this country while the export market is being stifled by the Department? It is not good enough for the Department to say that the drivers refuse to pass the pickets. That is a fact but it is not the only reason why the Department have suspended the parcel post service. If this decision was taken by the Department the Minister should have taken into consideration the effect it would have on small industries who want to post parcels from state to state. Is the Minister aware that in places like his own constituency, a Border area, or in Donegal, a person who wants to post a parcel from one part of the county to another, or from that county to any other part of the Republic, cannot do so and to overcome the difficulty created by the Department's decision to withdraw the parcel post service if that person crosses the Border and posts the parcel in Northern Ireland it will be delivered in the Republic?
Is that not a ludicrous situation in which to find oneself? Would the Minister please take a more personal interest in this matter and try to sort it out? Everyone is being inconvenienced by it and the State are losing a lot of money. The Minister must know the cost of bringing a van from the points which I have mentioned, empty on the outward journey and full on the return, and the cost of a container from Great Britain or the Continent with parcels to the Republic returning empty.
The Deputy has asked me already to take a personal interest. I can assure him and the House that I am now doing just that. We are working on arrangements for a limited service and, as I mentioned already, officials of my Department were conferring on that today. It is not easy. What the Deputy says about posting in the Six Counties would be the natural thing for people living along the Border. It looks a little anomalous, but I am in the situation that I would like the drivers to pass the pickets in Connolly Station, as many of their fellow trade unionists are doing. We would have full restoration of parcel services in a very short time if that happened.
But further to which I have said——
A final supplementary question, please, Deputy. You are not keeping to the question.
There are two points I want to make which are of importance. Firstly, I have asked the Minister——
A question, please, Deputy.
——if he would confirm or deny that, where special arrangements are made by the Department of Posts and Telegraphs to go to the premises of manufacturers and collect parcels to be posted and bring them to Sheriff Street for delivery in the Republic, this service is continuing, but the drivers in the parcel delivery service were told that, if they did this, they would be suspended or dismissed. Does the Minister consider that, where workers want to collect mail for firms manufacturing goods in the city of Dublin for export and for delivery to other parts of the Republic, they should be told that if they do that in future they will be dismissed? Would the Minister confirm or deny if that is the case? If it is not a fact, will he state clearly that, as was the practice which was heretofore the norm with the Department, facilities will be extended to firms manufacturing goods and that the Department will collect these and bring them straight to the Sheriff Street office, or, indeed, that companies that want to deliver them could go to Sheriff Street post office and would be allowed to do so? Would the Minister clear up that point?
I am sure that the workers are very anxious to have a resolution of the present impasse and I am told, after long discussions with one of my top officials, that they are very anxious to have a substantial alternative service under way in the very near future. There are problems. However, I can tell the House that we are working actively on this and it is receiving my personal attention. I appreciate the concern of Deputy Harte.
A final supplementary——
We have been almost 15 minutes on this question. One final supplementary, please.
This dispute has been going on for four weeks and it is causing havoc among small industries.
One final supplementary, please.
Finally, does the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs consider it reasonable that someone in Donegal posting a parcel to Sligo is not allowed to do so and that that parcel must come through the central sorting office? It is then caught up in the dispute we are debating. Would it not be reasonable to allow the parcel to be collected in Donegal for delivery in Sligo without coming through the central sorting office? Is it not a fact that this proposal was put to the Minister by the trade union officials because of the impasse at Connolly Station and that he has not yet told the trade union officials concerned that he is willing to agree to this? Is it not a ridiculous situation that someone in Galway wanting to post a parcel to Athlone, or in Cavan wanting to post a parcel to Dundalk must send it through the central sorting office, where because of a dispute as a result of men not passing the picket the parcels cannot be collected by the Department of Posts and Telegraphs?
Deputy Harte, that is a speech.
I am asking a question of the Minister.
You have got a reply to your supplementary question. We cannot go on forever on this matter. You have been asking a very tortuous supplementary question. I would ask for a simple supplementary question and we can have a reply to it, please, so that we can get on to the next item. We have been 15 minutes on this question.
I represent a rural constituency.
Many other Deputies do, also.
While I have responsibilities for the postals services in the city of Dublin, as a public representative my responsibilities are mainly motivated by the difficulties experienced in the provinces. I am asking this——
You are not allowed to make a speech.
Would the Chair please allow me to ask a question?
I will not allow you to make a speech. I will allow you to ask one supplementary question. We must abide by the rules. One final supplementary question, please. Please have consideration.
I am not in dispute with the Chair.
Will you allow the House to go on to the next item?
I am not in dispute with the Chair and would it allow me to ask my final supplementary? The Chair has not been listening, with respect.
I am listening.
My question is: would it not be simpler to allow letters and parcels posted in the provinces to be delivered in the provinces, transmitted from one point in the provinces to another without going through the Sheriff Street office? Is it not a fact that this proposal was put to the Minister by the trade union concerned and that he has not yet given them a clearance on it? Thereby he is discriminating against small businesses throughout the provinces, including those in his own constituency of Cavan-Monaghan.
The possibility mentioned by Deputy Harte as between Donegal, Sligo, Galway and Athlone is eminently reasonable on the surface. I will have a look at it.
Why did it take the Minister four weeks to decide that?