Denis Naughten urges post offices as offline option for public services
Denis Naughten argued that the post office network must be made the offline avenue for government services and called for urgent state support for post offices. He criticised delays in rolling out offline services, warned that digital-only delivery excludes many people, and demanded decisive action rather than further reports.
Main argument
The speaker said the post office network is the only state-controlled network with a nationwide footprint capable of providing an offline avenue for all Government services. He argued the statutory role of postal services should be amended to incorporate that offline function and stressed that callers are not seeking direct subsidies for postal services.
Pandemic role and digital exclusion
He noted the post office network remained open throughout the COVID-19 pandemic while access to many Government services moved online. He highlighted practical barriers - for example, motor tax cannot be renewed online without an email address - leaving "hundreds of thousands" unable to access services, and questioned how remote working targets could be met without offline counter options.
Policy commitments and unfulfilled promises
He recalled the April 2018 agreement with postmasters on voluntary closures, which included a three-year subsidy intended to enable new services and a state rollout across the post office network. He said no state services were provided in that three-year period and criticised the Government for only now assessing the feasibility of directing services to post offices. He also criticised the cycle of reports and interdepartmental groups following a 2019 report and warned a previous policy nearly led to the company's collapse prior to his appointment as Minister.
Calls for urgent action
The speaker urged immediate, decisive action to support rural communities, vulnerable people and the vital post office network. He pledged to return to the House repeatedly until concrete measures are taken to deliver offline Government services through the post office network.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
Thank you, and I welcome the opportunity to speak on this, and thank my colleagues for tabling this particular motion, and thank the Government for accepting the motion. Minister, every single time a Government Minister comments about on post, they make the point that it's a commercial semi-state company with a mandate to act commercially, and that it is statutory responsibility for the state's postal service and post office network. But that statutory role needs to change, and must be incorporated into it, offline avenue for all Government services. The post office network is the only state-controlled network that has a footprint across the country that can provide such a service. And since the emergence of COVID-19 in March 2020, access to many Government services have been restricted to those who don't want to, or who cannot use the online digital options. And throughout the pandemic, our post office network remained open. And it is long-standing Government policy that postal services would not be directly subsidised. But no one is asking for postal services to be actually subsidised whatsoever. The Government has, in fairness, been focused on supporting on post in the rollout of new services, and in the delivery of the strategic plan. But part of that agreement, in April of 2018, with the postmasters, regarding the voluntary closures, was that there would be a subsidy put in place over a three-year period to allow on post to put new and additional services into the post office network. And that the state would also roll out services across the post office network. No state services have been provided in the last three years. And we've now gone to a situation over that three-year period where the Government, at the end of that three-year period, is looking at the feasibility of directing services to the post office. We have seen, during the pandemic, the important role that the post offices have played, and the potential it has to develop new services, and yet, here we are, still talking about the feasibility of it. Now, in January of this year, the Thornish published Ireland's National Remote Working Strategy, which one of its objectives was that there would be a permanent option, after the pandemic, that 20% of government and public sector employees would be working from home by the end of 2021. Now, Minister, how in God's name can that happen if we are still operating counter services, if we are still operating paper forms that have to be imported physically? We can provide that service if the post office network becomes the offline option for front of office services, of government, and provide that option to many, many more public servants. But the difficulty is that the online service doesn't work for everyone. I'll give you one practical example of that. You cannot renew your motor tax online unless you have an email address. Now, there are hundreds of thousands of people across this country who don't have an email address. And should they be excluded from government services because they don't have an email address or they cannot use the technology? Now, the reality is, taking services offline and directing them through the post office network would eliminate costly paper-based notices and transactions. And I've outlined this in detail in a case study in relation to the rollout of the property tax. And what we need to see now is decisive action from government to support rural communities, to support vulnerable people, and to support our vital post office network. Now, the government, as you know, published the report on the provision of offline government services, which was established on foot of an interdepartmental group that was established in 2018, that produced this report in 2019. And lo and behold, at the end of that process, what has been the conclusion? To set up another interdepartmental group to look at it. Why is the support of our post offices always just one report away from action? The reality is that such a policy was taken prior to my appointment as Minister. And it nearly led to the collapse, not just of the post office network, but the company as a whole. And yes, here we are, failing to learn from the mistakes of the past, continuing the political dithering in relation to this. We need to see action. We need to see urgent action. And we're committed to bring this back here to the House again and again and again and again until we see action to support this vital network across rural and urban Ireland. Go raibh míle maith agad.
Thank you for downloading 🙏
If you publish this material on social media, we would be very grateful if you tagged VideoParliament. It helps us reach more people and keep building a transparent archive of Irish politics.
