Vol. 439 No. 1
3 Mr. O'Malley asked the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications if his attention has been drawn to the serious deterioration of the postal services to, from and within Dublin in recent weeks; the steps, if any, he proposes to take to restore the national postal service to normal standards; if he has had any consultations with An Post; and if he has satisfied himself that An Post is capable of carrying out its statutory obligations.
As part of its recovery measures designed to reduce costs and improve profitability, An Post recently implemented a programme of changes in the arrangements for distribution and delivery of mail. The changes affected operations in Dublin and in country areas and were fully agreed with the appropriate trade unions before implementation. The recovery measures are part of a major programme to make An Post more cost efficient — they are expected to show savings of £8 million to £9 million a year — while maintaining standards to all customers. They were developed against a background of accumulated losses of £14 million in An Post in recent years and the prospect of further losses in the future.
The changes in Dublin were the most far reaching since the introduction of postal services in the last century. They involved the start of operations at the new Dublin Mails Centre with the transfer of over 400 staff from the old Central Sorting Office in Sheriff Street, the opening of new Dublin 1 and Dublin 2 Mails Offices with the transfer of a further 200 staff from Sheriff Street and revised delivery arrangements involving single delivery in Dublin postal districts.
The initial period of this changeover saw delays in some Dublin postal districts, in particular in Dublin 1, 2 and 4. The scope and complexity of the change made it unavoidable that there would be some disruption to services until the new operational arrangements were beddedin. An Post took remedial action by way of additional deliveries and other measures and I am informed that next day deliveries are now back to normal. I understand that some customers are unhappy with the time at which mail is currently being delivered and An Post is endeavouring to see that customers' needs in this regard are met to the greatest extent possible under the new arrangements.
I am satisfied that An Post is capable of carrying out its statutory obligations. Indeed I believe the board, management and staff of An Post should be commended for reaching agreement on the programme of changes recently implemented.
Is the Minister aware that within recent weeks it has taken as long as five days for a letter posted in Dublin to be delivered in Limerick and vice versa, that that applies not just to Limerick but to various other provincial cities and centres and that this is simply unacceptable in this day and age, when it has been discovered by some people that if they had letters delivered by Pony Express, as was done 100 or 150 years ago, they would arrive at their destination more rapidly? Will the Minister give an assurance that the postal system will get back to what it used to be when the Department of Posts and Telegraphs ran it and it seemed to work smoothly and reliably? Next day delivery is a fiction as this applies only to a small proportion of letters.
This is the greatest rate of change in the postal delivery services this century. An Post and everybody concerned had signalled there would be teething problems, as there are in any new arrangements. I am satisfied that matters have been brought back to normal. There were difficulties and the Deputy and others will be able to give individual instances, but we have to try to avoid the flippant remark. Major changes involving economies have been made with the agreement of all and between £8 million and £9 million will be cut from their operational costs per annum. We have heard in the past from the same quarter from which complaints are coming that commercial semi-State bodies must be cost efficient and pay their way. As a result of these agreed changes being implemented that prospect is open to the company.
There were difficulties and An Post, both management and staff, would regard as unacceptable the length of time that Deputy O'Malley referred to in a number of instances for a letter to go from Dublin to Limerick. That would be unacceptable to any company which is serious about its business and it certainly would be unacceptable to An Post. It is doing all it can to get over the teething problems. The company is addressing them and is seeking to address any outstanding needs for customers over the next couple of weeks. Credit should be given where it is due as well as highlighting the inadequacies which were predictable.
While it is very commendable to save £8 million to £9 million a year in excess costs, is there much point in saving this amount if the price of saving it is a very serious deterioration in postal services generally? The Minister says that these four and five day delays will come to an end but can he say whether people in Dublin, particularly businesses in the centre city, will in future get deliveries of post at reasonable hours and not at 12 noon, 12.30 p.m. and 1 p.m. as has been the case over the past three weeks? This makes it impossible for them to run a business in any reasonable way.
The changes that have been brought about have not been for the purpose of a serious deterioration in services. There have been temporary problems which have been addressed and alleviated significantly over the past couple of weeks.
On the question of customers being unhappy at the time the post is delivered, An Post is working on this problem and expects to see further improvements in the next two to three weeks. It has to be said, nevertheless, that it will not be possible to effect all deliveries at the same hour and An Post proposes to make available a collection facility for customers who wish to avail of it. It will not be possible for everybody throughout the city to get post at 10 a.m. but it will ensure that single deliveries will work to the best possible extent and the quality of the service will be maintained. The company is very anxious to maintain the quality of service.
