The provision of post office services is already set out in section 12 of the Postal and Telecommunications Services Act 1983, and under the memorandum and articles of association of An Post.
The Government is committed to a viable and sustainable post office network. This is set out in its commitment for the retention of the post office network in the White Paper on rural development. The operational issues relating to individual post offices are a day-to-day operational matter for the company and one in which I have no function. The post office network has been the subject of a number of reviews in recent years in order to facilitate modernisation of the network and to ensure continued provision of post office services in a financially sustainable way.
Under an agreement between the Irish Postmasters' Union and An Post, the conversion of sub post offices from a fixed contract to an agency basis, whereby payments are linked to transactions, is being implemented on a voluntary basis. The key requirement, that a service is provided locally, is being met by the new agency arrangement.
An Post has secured additional business for the network, including Billpay facilities for the ESB, phone top-ups through its PostPoint service and a contract with the AIB under which the bank's customers can access their accounts through the network.
