Deputy Enright gave me notice of his intention to raise on the Adjournment the subject matter of the closure of Rosenallis post office, County Laois.
Adjournment Debate. - County Laois Post Office Closure.
I should like to thank the Chair for giving me permission to raise this matter on the Adjournment. The Chair's decision to give me this opportunity, which I appreciate, is probably partly due to the fact that he represents a rural constituency. As a rural representative I am sure the Chair shares my concern for people living in such areas who face many difficulties when a local service is withdrawn from them. The closure of a rural sub-post office represents a big blow to a local community and it was not surprising that I received representations from many people about the closure of Rosenallis sub-post office. Local people, in asking me to oppose the closure of the sub-post office, suggested that I should highlight the move in the Dáil, if given the opportunity.
Rosenallis is a small village situated in the very scenic area of Slieve Bloom. Over the years Laois and Offaly county councils have done everything possible to improve the amenities in that area in an effort to attract tourists. I should like to compliment both local authorities on the success of their efforts to attract visitors. Hotels and guesthouses in that general area are now catering for many tourists. One of the most important services in such an area is a good and efficient postal service. The village has been able to boast of such a service for many years but that changed last week when the local sub-post office was closed.
That move by An Post will cause great inconvenience to those entitled to old age and widow's pensions, unemployment assistance and benefit, invalidity pensions and deserted wife's allowances. It was grossly unfair to those people to close that facility. I am afraid that it is the policy of An Post to close small sub-post offices when they get the opportunity and without much concern for the local people. That is what occurred in Rosenallis.
The ownership of the sub-post office changed hands recently and the new owners were confident that they would be allowed to continue to provide the service. An Post was guilty of a gross abuse of their powers by giving such short notice to the new owners of their decision to cease the service. It was wrong and unfair to give those people such short notice of the intention to close the sub-post office on Friday, 4 March. I am very disappointed at that action. Requests by local public representatives to An Post to postpone the closure so that discussions could be held were not heeded and in a high-handed fashion they closed the sub-post office on Friday.
It is dangerous to pursue a policy of closing sub-post offices. We are all aware of the policy pursued down the years of closing rural schools and Garda stations and now we have a semi-State company removing another service from the rural community, the sub-post office. The trend is wrong and foolish and it will damage the quality of rural life. I appeal to the Minister for Social Welfare, who will be replying to this debate, to do all in his power to have the sub-post office restored to the village.
Rosenallis post office commenced business in 1882 with the permission of the British Government following a great campaign by local people for the service. It would be very wrong of an Irish Government to allow a semi-State company to close that office. The people of the village will be disappointed if the company succeed in their action. A licence to run the post office at Rosenallis was granted by the British Government to John Poole and the Poole family have been in charge of it up to recently when a grandson of the first owner sold it to Mr. Thomas O'Loughlin and his wife. I hope the post office is reopened under the new sub-postmistress, Mrs. Geraldine O'Loughlin. I have no doubt that the O'Loughlin family will run the post office efficiently. An Post can feel confident about appointing Mrs. O'Loughlin as sub-postmistress. She is well respected in the area and has a thorough knowledge of it. They certainly would have looked after the interests of An Post in an excellent manner. Like the previous occupants, they would also have looked after the interests of the old age pensioners and persons drawing invalidity and other benefits. An Post have been very unfair to the new owners of these premises in not granting them the contract to conduct this business.
An Post are the agents of the Department of Social Welfare and are paid a commission to distribute pensions, children's allowances and so on. If they continue with this policy, the Minister must take a very serious view of it. There are people living in the Ballyhuppan and Cappard areas of the Slieve Bloom mountains who have to travel down to Rosenallis to collect their entitlements. It would be grossly unfair if elderly people had to travel a further six or ten miles to another village or town. They might have to hire a car or thumb a lift in order to get there. It is not right that they should be put to the expense and inconvenience involved. In some instances they might be unable to travel to collect their pensions. It is an abuse of the powers of An Post to allow this to happen. People from the areas of Drummond and Clonduff would also be seriously inconvenienced.
It is very important that this post office should be allowed to remain open. I am amazed at the attitude of An Post. If they will not agree to allow pensions to be paid through small sub-post offices, the Minister will have to look for alternative means of providing this service. There was also a very good sale of stamps and postal orders in this particular post office.
The sorting which used to be carried out in the post office at Rosenallis is now being done in Mountmellick. There is now only one postman for the Rosenallis area, one for Clonaslee and two for Mountmellick. The service has been disimproved. If the post office is removed, there will be no real postal service in the area.
As this is a community matter, Deputy Flanagan and Hyland also wish to speak and I have agreed to share my remaining time with them.
I would ask the Minister to convey to An Post the very strong views of the Rosenallis community, as expressed by Deputy Enright. No doubt Deputy Flanagan will be equally forceful. I have no doubt that the social considerations in favour of keeping the office open far outweigh the economic arguments for closure. The decision is disappointing and socially unjust as far as the community of Rosenallis are concerned.
I am personally disappointed that my efforts to defer the decision for a month to allow for local discussion and negotiations met with no response from An Post. If provision had been made for a review, a sustainable case could have been made for keeping the office open. That case has already been made in Deputy Enright's contribution. I regret to have to say that the haste with which the decision was made was influenced more by tactics than consideration for the social consequences. I am bound to say that many people are being inconvenienced as a result of the decision, particularly the old and those who have no transport to take them to other post offices to collect pensions and other benefits.
I realise that the Minister and the Government have no statutory function with regard to the day-to-day operations of An Post, but this House and the Government should do everything possible to ensure that State service organisations like An Post balance the economic arguments against the social consequences of their decisions. If the current trend continues, the social fabric of rural Ireland will be seriously damaged. The post office, together with the church, the school, the community hall and the Garda station, forms the nucleus and hub of local activity. While it might be easy to calculate the financial saving which would accrue from closing the Rosenallis post office, it is not so simple to put a figure on the long-term cost to the State of the consequences of damaging the social fabric of a rural community.
I would ask the Minister to convey to An Post the very strong views of the community in Rosenallis, as reflected by the Deputies who represent the area. An injustice is being done which must be redressed, even at this late stage, by keeping the office open.
I thank you, a Cheann Comhairle, for allowing this debate and I also thank my colleague, Deputy Enright, for affording me a few minutes of his time. We have heard from the previous speakers the effect which this decision will have on the local community in the north Laois area.
I should like to draw the Minister's attention to the high-handed arrogance we have seen from An Post regarding this matter. Only one week's notice was given that patrons of the post office were to be informed that as and from the close of business on 4 March there was no longer to be a post office in the village of Rosenallis. It was most high-handed of An Post to refuse, as late as this week, to meet a delegation of public representatives from the area in an attempt to resolve the matter. The fact that they refused to consult the public representatives and people from the community is most regrettable.
It is high time for the Government to consider amending existing legislation to ensure that bodies like An Post and Telecom Éireann are made far more accountable to the public with regard to their day-to-day activities. These bodies are totally immune from the provisions of the Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act. I should like to see a code of practice covering their operations to ensure that people in a community like Rosenallis are not treated in the cavalier fashion we have witnessed in the past few days.
The Government did not act in the interests of consumers by abolishing the Users Council last year. The council could have been upgraded and made far more useful. Its abolition was a retrograde step. Rosenallis is not the only post office to have been closed during the past 12 months. When looking at profit we must also consider the matter of service. The closure of a post office cannot be equated with the closure of a bank which is strictly a private concern. There is an obligation on the State to ensure that this service is maintained in the locality.
Perhaps the Deputy would now conclude his remarks as I must call on the Minister to reply.
As the Deputies have said, the Government have no function in the day-to-day decisions of An Post but nonetheless I accept the views which have been expressed here. I will convey to An Post the very strong views which have been expressed to me by the Deputies this evening in relation to this particular closure.
An Post recently notified the Department of Social Welfare that they intended closing the post office at Rosenallis, County Laois. There were some 37 pensioners, 21 persons on unemployment payments and 34 child benefit claimants who cashed their payments at that office. Post offices are closed from time to time and the usual procedures are being followed in this case to facilitate social welfare claimants in transferring to their next most convenient post office. I have taken a personal interest in the cases which Deputy Hyland has raised with me and I have no doubt that the other claimants have been on to the other Deputies concerned.
In relation to the unemployed, the local employment offices of the Department have already made arrangements with the claimants to have their payments transferred to the nearest post office at Mountmellick or Clonaslee.
In relation to those social welfare claimants who are paid by books of paying orders, pensioners and child benefit claimants, the books need to be returned to the Department for printing thereon of the name of the new post office of payment. Lists of the claimants involved have been prepared and the Department are in the course of making arrangements with the individuals concerned.
They have been asked to indicate at which post office they wish their payments to be made in future and to return their payment books for amendment. A number of pensioners have already indicated that they wish to transfer to the Mountmellick post office.
To minimise disruption for claimants in the immediate area when a post office closes, it is the usual practice for An Post to accommodate them by cashing their pensions or other payments at another convenient post office of their choice as an ad hoc arrangement until the books have been formally readdressed by the Department. Arrangements have been made with An Post to ensure that pensioners may avail of this facility following the closing of the Rosenallis post office.
I understand that An Post re-examine the viability of post offices when they become vacant where this appears necessary for them to do so. I understand that the postmaster of the post office in Rosenallis resigned last December and that the post office was kept open temporarily over Christmas. In line with their normal practice, An Post then examined the cost of maintaining the post office at Rosenallis in order to ascertain whether it was economically viable. Apparently they judged that the small volume of business arising in the general area was not sufficient to justify its retention. That was their judgment and I can make no comment on it.
In arriving at that decision, An Post took into account the proximity of the neighbouring post office at Mountmellick, which is three-and-a-half miles away, Clonaslee which is just over five miles distant and Killeigh and Ballyfin which are some six-and-a-half miles away.
I am assured that An Post are very conscious of the importance of sub-post offices in rural areas and do not wish to close them without good reason. While I naturally would like to see as many paying outlets as possible for social welfare claimants, the closure of post offices is, however, an internal matter for An Post.
The network of post offices forms an important part of the payment structure in place for social welfare claimants and naturally I am concerned to ensure that all claimants have convenient and easy-to-use methods for cashing their entitlements. For this reason I am also actively pursuing ways of introducing as wide a degree of flexibility as I can into the various payment methods that the Department use at the moment. A large variety of payment methods are used, such as payments in cash, by cheques, by postal draft or by books of paying orders cashable at named post offices. With the introduction of computerised facilities in many areas of the Department, it will be possible to develop more modern payment methods for social welfare claimants. Direct transfer of payments by electronic means into bank or post office savings accounts are possibilities which are being planned for. This development is, however, some way down the road yet but is one we have under active consideration. A solution of this kind would clearly meet some of the difficulties being experienced by claimants who may consider that they have too far to travel to their nearest local post office.
In the meantime, however, I must accept the present structures as they are. An Post are aware of our concern on behalf of social welfare claimants but the question of the opening or closing of post offices is a matter within their own competence. I will, of course, keep the situation under review and raise the matter with them as the occasion requires.
Deputies Enright, Hyland and Flanagan have so eloquently put the case for Rosenallis. They emphasised the social deprivation in the area and emphasised also the consequences of its closure on a small rural community where it has many inter-related functions. I will convey to An Post the very strong views which have been expressed to me here tonight by the Deputies.
Will the Minister convey to them his own strong opposition to this closure and ask them to reconsider it? I am anxious that the Minister conveys our views but I am also anxious that he conveys his own opposition to this closure. A computer will be of no help to an old age pensioner living on the side of the Slieve Blooms who has to come down to receive his old age pension. I ask the Minister to put some effort into keeping that post office open. Can the Minister do that for me?
I will certainly convey the very strong views which have been expressed here to me tonight.
What about your own?
We have already been on to them about it.
I ask you to be very strong with them and to voice our strong opposition to this closure.
The Dáil adjourned at 11.25 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 10 March 1988.