(Mayo): I move:
That Dáil Eireann, acknowledging the contribution of sub-post offices to the commercial and community life of the country and to sustaining the rural and urban communities which they have served for many decades, deplores the decision by the Minister for Public Enterprise to disregard the recommendations of the report of Mr. Phillip Flynn which recommended "that all necessary steps be taken by the Government to maximise the amount of business channelled through the An Post network" in favour of the interdepartmental report which will lead to the forced closure of up to 900 sub-post offices and calls on the Government to ensure the following:
– a current account system similar to the model operated by banks;
– ATM facilities at each sub-post office;
– retention of payment of social welfare entitlements at sub-post offices;
– payment of bills to public authorities on a fee per item basis;
– renewal of driving licences and motor taxation;
– the development of e-commerce facilities;
– a low interest loan scheme repayable over ten years for the modernisation and upgrading of sub-post office premises;
– a programme of retraining modules for sub-postmasters, sub-postmistresses and sub-post office staff;
– an agreed redundancy scheme for sub-postmasters and sub-post mistresses who do not wish to continue to operate, and
– the restriction of PostPoint outlets to communities where sub-post offices cease to exist.
I wish to share time with my colleagues, Deputies Browne (Carlow-Kilkenny), McGinley, Connaughton, Belton, Timmins and Sargent.
Two weeks ago An Post announced the laying off of 1,100 staff. What a retrograde step for a company which has a total monopoly of the postal service, been part of what we are for generations, a national institution and such unrealised commercial potential. Here is a company which, until a few years ago, had a full ministry all to itself, the Department of Post and Telegraphs, and which, like Eircom, was subsequently established as a company with a view to enabling it to modernise, expand and become more business-like but which has limped lamely along rather than rising to the challenge and availing of the huge market opportunities there for the taking.
The Minister for Public Enterprise, Deputy O'Rourke, is the main shareholder in An Post, yet she has allowed it to drift helplessly with huge projected losses beckoning on the horizon. Last October in a reply to a Dáil question, she stated the interdepartmental group's report, commissioned by her and published last July, forecast accumulated losses in the post office counter service over the four year period 2001-04 at nearly £80 million. She went on to state the scale of these losses is unsustainable and represents a serious threat, not only to the post office network, but the An Post group. What a gloomy prediction for a company with such enormous potential.
Instead of sketching out a positive business plan, based on the findings of the Flynn report, the Minister decided to establish yet another think tank grandiosely titled a "partnership forum". The forum was established last October, but to date we have received no report from it. All the while post office staff, both those employed directly by An Post and those in the sub-post office sector, have been left wondering and waiting what their eventual fate will be. The announcement of over 1,100 redundancies was sprung on the Communication Workers Union without consultation, let alone agreement. I spoke with its officers today who were adamant that there had been no consultation with them on this announcement. This has damaged and prejudiced the possibility of consensus.
There should be no need to lay off staff in An Post. Instead of laying off staff, An Post could retain the bulk of its existing staff, expand its range of services and become an extremely attractive alternative to the existing commercial banks. What other sector of the public service has a network of 1,916 staffed offices located strategically throughout the length and breadth of the country, penetrating right into the hearts of every urban and rural community? Never before were the market opportunities more glaringly available for an expansion of its range of services than at present.
During the years the post office service has, apart from a few relatively minor developments, shied away from building on its range of activities. Fine Gael in government would change all that. The ten point plan which we put before the Dáil this evening would transform the post office structure into a thriving and vibrant service and commercial outlet.
At the top of our agenda would be the development of An Post banking services. During the years An Post savings schemes such index linked savings, instalment savings and saving certificates have proven to be much more attractive than those on offer from the commercial banking sector. In terms of yield to the investor, it could and does beat the banks hands down. If it could do so in the savings area, then why can it not take on the banks in offering a current account facility broadly similar to the current account arrangements which the banks used to offer but which they have abandoned in their quest for so-called greater efficiency and larger profits?
No longer can one walk into a bank and simply cash a cheque – even a Government cheque. One must first lodge the cheque and then make the withdrawal from one's current account. No longer are banks prepared to offer to their customers the traditional bill paying services which millions and millions have availed of over the generations. No longer are banks prepared to see their role as having even any minor kind of social dimension. The relentless pursuit of better than last year end of year results has become the absolute imperative of all banks. The result is small branch closures, leaving both urban and rural customers having to travel miles to avail of services. In many areas the banks pull out and close their branches giving only minimal notice and do not even leave an ATM service in their wake.
The result is that thousands of loyal customers, incapable of adapting to the new methodologies and practices, are left abandoned and feeling unwanted. This vacuum left by bank closures presents a huge window of opportunity for An Post. Fine Gael will ensure An Post will allow present disenchanted bank customers to lodge money to An Post current accounts. Customers would have standard cheque books in order to enable them to make payments from their accounts. The new restrictive bank practice of lodging cheques before one can withdraw would not operate.
Post offices would have ATM machines in order that customers could withdraw from bank accounts seven days per week provided they were in credit. The An Post bank would be a customer focused institution with a business thrust, available nationwide and serving communities abandoned by the banks. Huge numbers of disillusioned bank customers would switch their business to such a consumer orientated State owned institution. Billions of euros would flow from the banks into the coffers of An Post current accounts. Not alone would it be self-financing, it would generate huge profits for the company, part of which would be used to improve, expand and augment its existing and new services.
The Minister for Public Enterprise, as the main shareholder, is incapable of seeing the obvious potential of the An Post network over which she presides. She turns a deaf ear to the sensible expansion proposals recently announced by Muintir na Tíre. An An Post banking service operating six days a week from 9.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. would attract enormous business, seriously challenge the banks and turn the predicted losses into substantial profits.
I am aware of the deal negotiated between the AIB and An Post in regard to the facility to cash AIB cheques in An Post offices. I put it to the Minister and the House that this is a very watered down version of what could be realised if An Post had its own current account arrangements.
One of the mainstays of the existing post office service is the payment of social welfare entitlements. It is absolutely imperative that these continue to be part and parcel of the core business of all post offices and sub-post offices. ESB bill payments are coming on-stream in the next month or so in post offices, but this represents only a fraction of the potential, in terms of the bill paying facility that An Post offices could offer, if the service was made available. An Post offices and sub-post office staff would be more than capable of taking on board a range of services such as the payment of water, sewerage and refuse collection charges on a fee per item basis. There is absolutely no reason post offices should not be used for the renewal of driving licenses and motor taxation. They could easily become one-stop-shops for central and local government information and transactions, all of which would involve payment on a fee per item basis which would generate business and profit for the company.
The An Post network must adapt to the rapidly changing demands of Irish society. The e-commerce revolution opens up a host of new possibilities which must be exploited by the unique nationwide reach of the An Post network. Post offices should have Internet services enabling their customers to use the Internet, draw down information and engage in commercial transactions.
In order to provide the expanded range of services it is obvious that training modules must be put in place. The general perception is that the bulk of sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses are in the elderly category who would be incapable of adapting to the demands and challenges of a vastly expanded range of services. I found to my surprise that this is untrue. At the various meetings that I attended since the sub-post offices came under threat I was pleased to observe that the majority of sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses were in the middle or younger age group. They are educated, ambitious, enthusiastic and extremely confident of their own abilities to deliver any business or service opportunity that the company would send in their direction. There is a cohort of elderly sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses who would not see themselves as capable of meeting the challenges of the new enhanced and expanded post office. These are people who during the years have provided their local communities with the existing range of services. The least An Post could do for them is to offer them a reasonable gratuity in recognition of their service to the company during the years.
Undoubtedly, some post offices would have an accommodation problem in regard to accommodating and providing new services because of the lack of space, the structure of the building or the failure to modernise them during the years. To meet the new service requirements An Post should put in place a low interest scheme repayable over ten years for the modernisation and upgrading of sub-post office premises. I have spoken to individual sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses and all of them, without exception, have indicated that they would welcome and avail of such a scheme.
What Fine Gael is proposing is not fanciful, but practical, pragmatic and achievable. It is a survival plan based on an evaluation of the existing national branch network, its staff and potential. It would transform and invigorate the local post office and secure the post office forever as a cornerstone of the community.