Liam Aylward
Question:37 Mr. Aylward asked the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications the future plans, if any, he has for viability of the Irish Post Office. [3808/95]
Written Answers - Post Office Plans.
The Postal and Telecommunications Services Act, 1983 imposes a general duty of viability in its operations on An Post and the discharge of this duty is a matter in the first instance for the board of the company.
The House will be aware that An Post had accumulated losses of £14 million at the end of 1992. These losses had been reduced to £9 million at the end of the 1993 and preliminary indications are that when the 1994 accounts are published they will show that the accumulated losses will have been significantly reduced again.
The improvement in the financial position of An Post has taken place against the background of the implementation of recovery measures which have been agreed by management and unions. The measures were part of a major programme to make An Post more cost effective and involved changes which were the most far reaching since the introduction of postal services in the last century.
An Post and its staff are to be commended on their efforts to bring about the turnaround in the company's financial position. Notwithstanding the improvement that has taken place there can be no complacency about the future prospects of An Post and in this regard I am confident that both management and staff are fully committed to working together to ensure the future viability of the Irish postal services.