When dealing with the remarks I made under this sub-head last night, the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs did not offer us any further information. According to the Estimates the headquarters offices are costing £108,840; the Metropolitan offices, £459,480, and the Provincial offices just £3,000 less than a million. I am not making any remarks with regard to the headquarters' offices, because I recognise that they serve the whole Saorstát. But when we come to the Metropolitan offices, and see that they are costing just half a million, and that the post offices in the rest of the country cost roughly a million, we wonder why the Minister did not include the city in his scheme of ruthless economy, as he called it. He said that the same curtailment was in operation in the city as in the country. But in the country districts we have had sixty-five offices closed, and I understand it is contemplated to close about twenty more. How many offices have been closed in the metropolitan area? I understand that the Glasnevin office was closed, and that it is open again. I have not heard of any other city post office being closed. I want to know where they have been closed.
I do not object to two post offices being in one street, as they may be necessary, but when we have ruthless economy being carried out all over the country, when post offices are situated six Irish miles from each other in the rural districts, why is it absolutely necessary that there should be post offices in Dublin within 150 yards of each other? If the Minister wants to justify himself in the rural districts he had better do the thing properly. Here is half a million to be gambled with. What the Minister has succeeded in saving by his economies in the country districts is very small indeed, and for the sake of that small amount he has created the utmost dissatisfaction. He has alienated the sympathies of almost all the rural population. It is these little pinpricks that count. People ask why the country is not enthusiastic about the Government, why those on the register do not vote at elections, and why some people are becoming Irregulars. It is because of this maladministration, this total disregard of the viewpoint of the people of the country districts. There is no Deputy that I have more respect for than the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs. I recognise his honesty. I recognise that he is one man who is trying to do things according to his lights, but in this matter his viewpoint is that of a man who has been born and brought up in a town.