Bríd Smith calls for PSO levy to save threatened post offices
Bríd Smith addressed the Dáil on the continuing crisis in the post office network, urging an immediate PSO levy and broader measures to keep and extend local post offices. She argued closures result from management choices and a 'slavish devotion to neoliberal economics', and rejected the inevitability of mass closures under procurement rules.
Political consensus and repeated motions
She noted that support for urban and rural post offices is shared across all parties and that motions to support them have been a regular feature of the Dáil since she entered. Despite universal support and programme-for-government commitments, post offices continue to close or face threats of closure.
Scale of decline and official figures
She cited official figures that in 2016 there were 1,100 post offices and that a recent Dáil committee put the number at 944. She highlighted that 159 post offices closed in recent years, that the head of retail warned up to 700 were not commercially viable, and that perhaps another 200 face threat.
Local impacts and the Chapel closure
She described the recent closure of a post office in Chapel, where the postmistress retired and no replacement was found, forcing residents to walk a kilometre to Ballyfermot with no connecting bus and over a steep hill. She warned this harms older people, people with disabilities and young mothers with prams, and that local campaigners have long fought to keep offices open.
Policy proposals and evidence cited
She said she supports the immediate payment of a PSO levy to keep offices open and to replace the ended transformation payment, and favoured a longer aim of keeping and extending the network as community hubs. She referenced an Irish Postmasters Union report with Grant Thornton recommending a £17 million annual PSO payment, and noted PSO funding models exist in the UK, France, Spain, Belgium, Italy, Finland and Poland with European Commission approval.
On commercial viability and procurement rules
She acknowledged technological change and declining mail volumes but argued these do not justify mass closures or treating every service as commercially viable. She rejected the claim that EU procurement rules make closures inevitable, saying such rules are used selectively for ideological reasons, and contrasted post office closures with public services like schools and health that are not judged solely on commercial viability.
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I think it sort of feels each summer, at least I think it's each summer, that we reach a part of the Dáil term where a motion on post offices is before the House, a motion to support them and to keep them open. It's been a regular feature of the Dáil since I've come here. Support for urban and rural post offices is shared across all parties and seems to unite all colours of political opinion. It's in every programme for government that they will support the rural and urban post offices. It's odd then, that despite universal support, we're confronted yet again by a crisis in the network, that despite Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael support, post offices continue to close or to be threatened with closure, despite us all knowing and eulogising the role that they play in keeping local communities bound together and that it seems we can't save them. This is very, very odd. Everyone supports them, everyone acknowledges the role they play and how vital they are to our communities, that they're a centre, and a focus of our communities, and yet they continue to decline. In 2016, when I first entered the Dáil, there were 1,100 post offices across the country. According to a recent Dáil committee, there are now 944. In a previous Dáil motion, and there have been many, all passed as far as I can remember, there were campaigns in County Sligo, County Kerry, West Limerick, parts of Dublin like Rialto to keep post offices open. Those local campaigners have been fighting over the years to keep them, with many large campaigns, because people understand the practical and social importance of the post office. Only last week, the post office in one of the oldest villages in Dublin closed down. Chapel is a post office services, a community that has a large ageing population, but also, hopefully within the next year, will have a new community in social housing that is to be built nearby. This makes no sense at all. Certainly, the post mistress was retiring, but looking for an alternative didn't seem to be biting the bums on post management at all. What they are now saying is that those who live in Chapel is a village, who need to access services, must walk a kilometre to Ballyfermot, there is no connecting bus service, and the two areas are joined by a very steep and large hill. That is not fair to older people, to people with disabilities, to young mothers with babies and prams. But I will repeat what I said at a previous Dáil motion. I contrast the efforts of campaigners and communities with the inaction and the lethargy of the government, the ministers who are in charge, and indeed, Unpust themselves. This closure programme is not inevitable, nor is it a natural phenomenon. It is the end result of a slavish devotion to neoliberal economics. The closures of 159 post offices in recent years is because, as far as the management of Unpust is concerned, they were not commercially viable. As far as the government is concerned, they are not commercially viable. As far as the Minister is concerned, they are not commercially viable. The threatened closure here of perhaps another 200 post offices stems from the same logic and the same reasoning. I support the immediate payment of a PSO levy to keep the offices open and replace them with the now ended transformation payment. But that will not address the decline itself. When we discussed the previous rationalisation programme, we saw 150 post offices closed. The head of retail and Unpust stated that up to 700 post offices were not commercially viable. We have an ongoing threat to the post to Unpust the contract for social welfare payments and the continued threat that these may or may not be tendered out in the future. I do not accept that EU procurement rules make this inevitable. I believe that such rules are selectively used again and again, largely for ideological reasons, and that threat should end. It is true that there have been and will continue to be changes in technology, commercial businesses moving away from smaller towns, social welfare clients switching to electronic money transition. It is true that actual mail volumes of traditional post have been and continue to decline. But while some elements are outside our control, it does not follow that the end result is the mass closure of the post office network. Not every service or piece of infrastructure needs to be commercially viable to exist or to survive. We do not demand that our primary or secondary schools are commercially viable or that health services are commercially viable. We choose what services and elements of our social and economic life we want to retain and nurture, regardless of commercial viability. If we believe it is important enough, and those of us across the House here do believe it is important enough, then we should save it. So we support this motion as we did all previous motions, and we will continue to support demand for a PSO levy by the State to keep these offices open. But I would support a longer and wider aim of keeping and extending the network, and see them as hubs for local life in both rural and urban areas, not simply judged on their commercial viability. It is worth noting some of the statements from the post office union and revisiting some of the reports, and many of them have been produced over the years. But the Irish Postmasters Union carried out a report with the consultants, Grant Thornton, and they recommend that the State should introduce a £17 million payment in annual public service obligation. The report says that PSO funding models on post networks have already been introduced in the UK, in France, in Spain, in Belgium, in Italy, in Finland and Poland, and all with the approval of the European Commission. Why does the government not follow this model? And I think the Minister should address that. The report also states that the post office network remains a highly valuable national asset and contributes far more to the economy than the cost of the PSO. To calculate the social value of the post office network, there is an annual social value of the post office network is about £334 to £776 million. 28 per cent of the population, not insignificant, 1.3 million people, continue to use the post office every week, including the distribution of £4.6 billion of social welfare payments. So it makes absolutely no sense to us or to anyone across this House that this disclosure, this rundown of an essential public service, which is what it after all is, is continuing to decline. On post financial supports are unsustainable in anything but the short term. Establishing alternative funding options to maintain a sustainable future for the post office networks and for the post masters is now essential. So we support both the motion and the amendment from Sinn Féin. To be continued... To be continued... To be continued... To be continued... To be continued... To be continued... To be continued... To be continued... To be continued... To be continued... To be continued... To be continued... To be continued... To be continued... To be continued... To be continued... To be continued... To be continued... To be continued... To be continued... To be continued... To be continued... To be continued... To be continued... To be continued... To be continued... To be continued... To be continued... To be continued...
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