asked the Minister for Communications if his attention has been drawn to reports that An Post are considering discontinuing their parcel post business; if he considers such a move would be in the public interest; if he plans to discuss this proposal with An Post in the light of their annual report; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Parcel Post.
1.
As the parcel service of An Post is making substantial losses, the company have drawn up a plan to resolve the problem. A decision to discontinue the service has not been taken by An Post and hopefully the need for such action will not arise.
Do the Department or the Minister reserve to themselves the final decision on whether or not an important aspect of the service of An Post will be closed or curtailed?
The responsibility for taking day-to-day decisions obviously rests with An Post. It must be borne in mind that this service has been losing considerable amounts of money in recent times and that the traffic in relation to parcel post in An Post has also decreased. It may be possible, having made changes in the administrative system, for the board to compete better with other facilities that are available and the decision the Deputy fears may never be necessary but it ultimately resides with the board of An Post to make such decisions.
In respect of the considerable losses referred to by the Minister, can he indicate the reasons for such? To what extent are the courier services eating into the business of An Post of delivering parcels profitably? There is some confusion as to the legality of these courier services. Do they operate on the fringes of the law or within the law?
Matters appertaining to the courier service should be the subject of a separate question.
It arises from the loss element.
It is a separate matter.
As I understand it, the private couriers operate within the law but, one way or the other, we live in a competitive world and the onus is on the board of An Post to operate their service in a way which will compete with private enterprise in other areas, and I would expect them to do that.
If a decision were taken in An Post in the context of parcel delivery, would that involve the Fastrack service provided through CIE? Are they related.
Will the Deputy ask that question again because I do not think it was clear from the question whether he was referring to a decision to discontinue the service?
If a decision were taken to discontinue the postal service within An Post, would it in any way affect the Fastrack service provided by CIE?
We are not known on this side of the House for being too pessimistic. I would rather not deal with that kind of hypothetical situation because we are going forward on the basis that the board can redress the situation and they will have every opportunity to do so.
What is the estimated turnover on which the £5.6 million loss is being made? If it was not possible for this to be turned around, would the Government intervene or would they accept the closure of this service on commercial grounds?
I cannot give the Deputy the figures on which this is based. The loss is about £5.6 million which is quite substantial and will have to be addressed by the board. On the question of responsibility, the board have a commercial responsibility; they should be in a position to compete and we would expect them to do so.