Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 12 Oct 1993

Vol. 434 No. 4

Fourth Additional Protocol to the Constitution of the Universal Postal Union: Motion.

Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications (Mr. N. Treacy)

I move:

That Dáil Éireann approves the terms of the Fourth Additional Protocol to the Constitution of the Universal Postal Union and other Acts signed by the Irish delegation at the Twentieth Congress of the Universal Postal Union at Washington on 14th December, 1989, copies of which were

laid before Dáil Éireann on 27th August, 1993."

The subject matter of this resolution is quite technical, but I am advised that Dáil approval is necessary.

Following the approval of the Dáil, the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs will arrange for ratification by Ireland of the Additional Protocol and other Acts.

The Universal Postal Union (UPU) was founded in 1874 as a result of the Treaty of Berne, which established the first collective convention covering the international postal service. It came into being as a result of the inability of the existing bilateral agreements to cope with the increasing social, business and administrative demands being placed on the international postal service. The UPU became a specialised agency of the United Nations in 1948 and there are now 185 members. Ireland became a member in 1923.

The basic rules of the UPU provide for (a) the formation among all member countries of a single postal territory for the reciprocal exchange of letter-post items; (b) guaranteed freedom of transit within the territory of the union; (c) standardisation of the charges to be collected by each country for letter-post items addressed to any part of the union's territory; (d) arrangements for intra-administration payments for the handling of letter-post items; (e) the institution of an arbitration procedure to settle disputes between administrations; (f) the creation of a central office, called the international bureau, the cost of which is borne by all member countries and (g) periodic meetings of a congress of plenipotentiaries of the member countries, with a view to revising the Acts of the union and discussing questions of common interest.

The basic Act of the UPU is its constitution, adopted in 1964. This can be amended only at the congress (the supreme organ of the UPU), by means of additional Protocols.

These Additional Protocols were adopted in 1969, 1974 and 1978, and the Fourth Additional Protocol, which is the subject of the present resolution, was adopted in Washington in 1989.

In addition to the constitution, other basic Acts of the UPU are binding on all its members. These are, the general regulations to which are annexed, the various internal rules of procedure etc. and the Universal Postal Convention. In practice, these are re-issued in an amended form by each congress.

In addition to the Acts, to which all UPU members subscribe, there are several optional Acts governing services, other than the letter post service, for example, on giros or on parcels. Ireland has subscribed to the Postal Parcels Agreement. This too was amended by the Washington Congress in 1989 by issuing a modified text to replace the previous text.

The full texts of the constitution and general regulations, the Convention and the Postal Parcels Agreement, as revised by the Washington Congress, have been placed in the Library of the House.

Congresses are held every five years. The complexity of international postal operations is reflected in the fact that the published texts of the Acts of the Congress run to more than 1,400 pages, mostly of a technical or administrative character. Although bulky and complex, the texts contain mainly revisions of existing Acts, according to procedures set out in the constitution and other Acts in force.

The principal amendments to the UPU constitution contained in the Fourth Additional Protocol are as follows: replacement of the gold franc by the International Monetary Fund, Special Drawing Right (SDR) as the official currency of the UPU, and as the monetary unit for settlement of international postal accounts; deposit of instruments of accession or admission to the UPU with the Director General of the union's international bureau, rather than with the Swiss Government, as heretofore and deposit of instruments of ratification of the constitution, the Additional Protocols thereto and of approval of the other Acts of the union, with the director general of the international bureau rather than with the Swiss Government as heretofore.

Other Acts adopted at the Washington Congress in 1989 are: amendments to the general regulations of the UPU; amendments to the Universal Postal Convention and amendments to the Postal Parcels Agreement.

As I indicated, the details of these amendments may be found in the documents presented to the Dáil.

The operation of the Irish postal service is governed by the provisions of the Postal and Telecommunications Services Acts, 1983 and 1984 and earlier legislation. The 1983 Act established An Post and section 12 thereof gave the company statutory responsibility for the provision of a national postal service within the State and between the State and places outside the State. Implementation of the obligations of the UPU Acts does not present any problems and is on-going in nature under the provisions of existing legislation or by administrative measures. We are satisfied that An Post is fully aware of the obligations imposed by the UPU Acts and that the company is complying with these obligations.

So far as financial aspects of our membership of the UPU are concerned, under the UPU Constitution and General Regulations, the UPU expenses are borne by the member countries.

Each member country may choose the contribution class in which it wishes to be included, with the exception of the lowest class, which is reserved for the least developed nations. A member country may reduce its contribution class by one step only at a time and must notify the International Bureau of the UPU, before the opening of Congress. It takes effect on the entry into force of the financial provisions drawn up by Congress.

Ireland notified its wish to move from the 10-unit class to the 5-unit class, which seems more in keeping with Ireland's size and scale of operations. As a result of this, Ireland's contribution to the UPU budget was reduced from 249,000 Swiss Francs for 1990, to 155,300 Swiss Francs, approximately IR£75,000, for 1993.

Payment of Ireland's contribution does not fall on the Exchequer as payment has been delegated to An Post. This delegation is in line with the practice whereby financial obligations in terms of payments to other postal administrations in respect of international postal traffic operations are discharged from the revenues of An Post. Likewise, financial benefits, in terms of receipts from other postal administrations for international operations, are brought to account in the revenues of An Post.

I recommend this Resolution to the House.

Mr. Noonan

(Limerick East): I thank the Minister of State for having explained this to us. It sounds extraordinarily interesting. The Universal Postal Union Conference held internationally, and most recently in Washington, I have been told is a great occasion. Connoisseurs of junkets have told me that it is a junket which surpasses all others worldwide, especially in the case of Ministers, Ministers of State and Postmasters General.

Mr. N. Treacy

I was unfortunate.

Mr. Noonan

(Limerick East): I do not know whether the Minister was fortunate enough to have attended on the previous occasion but I am sure he will have another opportunity to do so and wish him well in is travels. I do not think the time of the House need be delayed unduly with this motion. While there were claims made in the course of the Minister's introductory remarks as to the great work conducted by the Universal Postal Union at their five-yearly congresses — to show the significance the Minister metioned something like 1,400 decisions having been taken at the last one and gave us a sample of those decisions in the text of his remarks — I must say that the world would still have spun round and the cocks crowed in the morning had none of those decisions been taken. Indeed the replacement of the gold franc, which I presume was Swiss, by settlements by the International Monetary Fund as the present method for regularising monetary transactions between members, while very interesting for them, I do not consider to be of much relevance.

I know the Minister is obliged to bring these matters before the House but, while thanking him, I do not think it has a lot of relevance to the conduct of business, the delivery of letters, the delivery of parcels, indeed to the kind of counter services provided daily in our post offices. I should like either the Minister or the Minister of State to return to this House at an early date so that we can have a debate on An Post. The Minister's Department is a high profile one. Over the past six months we have been concerned with An Post's sister company, Telecom Éireann, and the question of telephone charges. Another section of the Minister's Department has been rivited by the various to-ings and fro-ings in Aer Lingus. While there are a number of State bodies responsible to the Minister and his Minister of State, An Post seems to have escaped public scrutiny in recent times. I cannot recall an occasion within the past six months when there was a serious debate in this House on An Post. Neither can I recall an occasion when either the Minister or his Minister of State issued a statement of policy in relation to An Post.

I should like to ask the Minister — he may reply now or at a later date — where An Post stands now? Is it commercially viable? Does the Minister believe it is fulfilling its functions in accordance with the provisions of the 1983 and 1984 Acts to the fullest of its ability? Is the level of service being provided by An Post as good as it was when removed from the Department of Communications in 1983 and converted into a semi-State body? Many of the complaints crossing my desk would suggest that it is not. I receive many complaints about delays in delivery of letters. When we think of An Post we think of it in the first instance as the organisation which delivers the mail. Indeed the delivery of the mail is not as efficient as it was in that letters posted in Dublin do not always arrive in country areas the following day. I have had experience when letters were posted in this House in bulk — a Deputy might post 150 or 200 letters — of a percentage having arrived the following day, a percentage the day after and some not arriving for a week or so. The Minister must at an early date give us accurate information on the efficiency levels of An Post. The conventional wisdom among consumers is that their efficiency levels are slipping. I should like the Minister to refer to parcel post. There is a widespread belief that An Post cannot compete with private courier services, that their market is being eroded daily, that very little action is being taken by An Post to rectify that or compete in the marketplace.

Very often we think of An Post as the agency that runs the national lottery. I do not want to talk about the national lottery today. I should like to ask whether it is still considered in Government that An Post should participate in some kind of third banking force. Is there a suggestion that An Post will form the cutting edge in the High Street outlets for a third banking force. Have discussions been carried out in that respect? Is it simply political gossip for which there is no basis? Many of the Minister's colleagues in Government suggest that they would be an appropriate third partner in such a force. It is not clear where An Post stands.

What is the position of workers in An Post? Are their jobs secure? Are there continuing plans for removing 2,000 or 3,000 workers? What is the position of rural post offices, 2,000 of them sentenced by the former Minister, Deputy Séamus Brennan? He half withdrew from that proposal. It was then reinstated on the agenda. At present small post offices are being closed surreptitiously without any announcement. What is the plan? What is the policy?

I know the Minister will not have an opportunity today to reply in detail to the points I make. While agreeing to the motion in respect of the Universal Postal Union, there are far more relevant matters in connection with the postal services we should be discussing in this House. I would ask the Minister to give us an opportunity to discuss these matters at a very early date. Initially I am seeking a statement of policy on the part of the Minister explaining where he thinks An Post is at present and where he thinks it is going in terms of commercial viability and providing services for its customers.

Mr. O'Malley

I have no objection to this motion to approve the terms of the Fourth Additional Protocol to the Constitution of the Universal Postal Union signed by Ireland in Washington on 14 December 1989. What is contained in the Protocol and the various other amendments is not of much importance. It is a fairly obvious development that might take place to reflect changing circumstances in the world as a whole.

This motion affords us a brief opportunity to pose a number of questions in regard to postal services and their future. The situation has changed very dramatically in the past ten or 15 years and, indeed, has changed since the Act of 1983, which governs our postal system. It is an opportune time to ask where we go from now in regard to postal services. They are much less important than they would have been in the past and this trend will continue as fewer communications of any significance pass through the post.

Anyone who has spent time in the US will be aware that about 90 per cent of what goes through the postal system there is junk mail, that is unsolicited nuisance as far as the receipients are concerned, plus non-urgent communications of one kind or another. Does the United States, Ireland or any other country in the Universal Postal Union have to provide a structure or a service that will facilitate the delivery of unsolicited and unwanted junk mail? It is time to ask whether that is really necessary. Virtually all communications of importance is sent by fax or by electronic mail. That is likely to be used to an even greater extent.

Where particular services can be provided from private sources which are of a satisfactory nature, it should not be necessary for the State to provide them. That applies to parcels etc. both here and internationally. The vast majority of the more important international parcels and packages are sent by private transport companies and couriers. It strikes me as particularly odd that at least two State bodies are in direct competition with one another in providing exactly the same service, in relation to the dispatch of packages and parcels, An Post and Iarnród Éireann. It would appear that both are losing money partly by virtue of being in competition with one another. Is that not competition at the expense of the taxpayer or the user of postal services? We should remind ourselves that even though the efficiency of the postal service is decreasing its cost is one of the highest in the world. It is a pity that our postal services are so much more expensive than in the neighbouring jurisdiction and certainly they are not any more efficient than there.

Because the post office has existed for a long time we assume it will continue to exist for all time in that form. I have not seen any rethinking in relation to the Post Office Savings Bank which in the past provided a useful service, especially for people in rural areas. With the proliferation of banking outlets, the ease of transmission of money and the fact that cash is used to a far lesser extent one wonders whether the way things were done 50 years ago is necessarily the best way to operate now.

I agree with Deputy Noonan that the time is opportune for a major debate on the future of the postal services. Ireland has no problems in terms of its international relations in regard to postal services and the Universal Postal Union. I am intrigued to find that Ireland removed itself from what is called the ten-unit class to the five-unit class in 1989. I am sure that is the only time we have voluntarily demoted ourselves in any sphere. If it does not make any difference, perhaps the Minister would consider demoting us further to the one-unit class so that we might have to pay even less Swiss francs. This must be the only international organisation on record where our contribution goes down rather than up. I congratulate the Universal Postal Union on being in such a unique situation. I am glad we do not have notions of grandeur beyond our station, so far as the Universal Postal Union is concerned. Perhaps we should demote ourselves from the Waldorf Astoria class to some one star or two star class in respect of some of our other international relations.

An Ceann Comhairle

The Deputy is travelling very far now.

Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications (Mr. N. Treacy)

I sincerely thank Deputies Noonan and O'Malley who have contributed so positively to this motion on the Universal Postal Union. I also take this opportunity to wish Deputy O'Malley well in his future life, political and otherwise.

As I stated at the outset the Fourth Additional Protocol to the Constitution of the Universal Postal Union — the UPU — and other Acts which were signed by the Irish delegation at the Twentieth Congress of the union held at Washington in 1989 are largely of a technical and detailed revisory character and in accordance with normal practice the acts are already in operation in all UPU member countries. There are no staffing or financial implications for Ireland arising from these Acts other than Ireland's financial contribution of approximately £75,000 to the annual budget of the UPU which is paid on an ongoing basis by An Post.

I am satisfied that An Post is fully aware of the obligations imposed by the UPU Acts and that the company is complying with these obligations. In reference to what Deputy O'Malley said about relegating ourselves into a particular class, the reason was our demographic situation and the volume of business handled in Ireland in comparison with larger countries. Obviously we had to enter the league most suitable to our size. If it is possible to reduce our contribution further I am sure An Post will see to it.

Many of the issues raised in this debate by both Deputies are of a general nature relating to An Post. I will respond to them and if Deputies are not satisfied there is no need for me to advise them as to how they can deal with the matter.

An Post's level of performance is one of the best in the European Community with delivery of 93 per cent to 95 per cent of letters on the next day following posting. To improve further on the quality of service offered to its customers, An Post is introducing a number of operational and organisational changes, including counter services. An Post is in the process of providing modern computerised counter equipment in 600 of its large post offices nationwide at a cost of £36 million.

Yesterday's national plan included an allocation of funding to assist with that. The introduction of these systems will be phased over the next four years, 1993 to 1996, at approximately 150 offices per year. When completed they will cater for over 80 per cent of all customers. The offices will be connected by a telecommunications network to An Post's central system and also to those of the Department of Social Welfare and other utilities. Initially, the system will cater for a limited range of products, namely social welfare payments, Savings Bank and savings and investments products, money transmission and bill payment. Through its "Transcash" product, An Post provides bill payment services for Telecom Éireann, Cablelink, Gas Companies, Thorn EMI, Mercantile Credit, UDT, Woodchester, Concern and Trócaire. Over time, the system will be extended to cover all products and services provided at post offices counters.

In determining its strategy for counter business in the nineties, An Post clearly saw that rising costs and antiquated methods of handling transactions were putting its business under threat and preventing it from attracting new products and services. Competitors were using modern technology to provide better customer service at lower costs and were systematically eroding the business base. In deciding to make a radical overhaul of the way in which the company provided counter services, it was supported by its two main agency customers, the Department of Social Welfare and the National Management Treasure Agency which negotiated commercial contracts with the company which partly funded the cost of this major computerisation project.

Currently the systems operate in 20 post offices and this number will be extended to over 100 by the end of this year. The new systems, which are of the most modern design, have attracted considerable interest, particularly in the United Kingdom, where post offices systems are being examined. An Post have had visits already from UK Department of Social Security officials and from senior managers of UK Post Office Counters Limited. Everybody was very impressed with the quality of our system and the excellent working relationship between An Post and major agency customers.

The second change to be made is in Dublin's Mail Centre, where An Post has built a modern letter mail sorting centre, adjacent to the Western Parkway in Dublin to replace the existing outdated central sorting office in Sheriff Street. The project involved expenditure of £15 million. The Dublin Mail Centre is scheduled to commence operation on 24 October 1993. It will provide automation and computerisation of letter sorting through the use of optical character readers and video encoding techniques. By adopting one of the most advanced sorting systems in the world, An Post's objective is to contain costs and pass on the benefit to customers by minimising prices and maintaining high standards of service now and in the future.

There are developments in international services. An Post is also active in taking action to improve quality of service in the cross-Border areas, particularly as cross-Border letter mail accounts for 28 per cent of the total letter mail handled, compared to an EC average of 7 per cent. The company has concluded quality of service agreements for that purpose with its major trading partners, for example, the UK, Denmark, the Netherlands, Portugal and the US. In addition, An Post is participating with three other European Community postal administrations, the UK, France and Germany in the European Communities assisted CAPE project involving the development of an electronic track and trace facility for international letter mail dispatches.

I hope this information is of assistance to the Deputies in putting in context the commitment by An Post management, our Department and the Government to ensuring that An Post perform as a very efficient State agency, comparable to any other similar agency in the European Community and deliver the service to which we all aspire and to which the consumer is entitled.

Finally let me thank the Deputies for their positive contribution and for agreeing to this motion.

Question put and agreed to.