2026-06-18

The issue I raise has been raised by other Deputies in the Chamber. It is something that is happening across Dublin. I was in the Chair last week when colleagues asked about the closure of the sorting office on Griffith Avenue. The response from the Government was, I understand, the one it received from An Post. Before the Minister of State reads out the response he has been given, I ask him to recall why he got involved in politics and the passion he has for his area. Within two weeks of starting a petition on the proposed relocation of the sorting office in Harmonstown, I had collected 2,000 signatures from the people I represent. More than 300 people contacted my office by telephone after I dropped leaflets in Harmonstown, Artane and the other affected areas. I have asked the Minister of State to think back to why he became involved in politics. As public representatives, we need information to represent the public successfully. I have been asking An Post what alternative arrangements will be implemented for the elderly and for people with mobility issues and other disabilities to enable them to collect their packages. Currently, if people are not home when an attempt is made to deliver, their package will go to the sorting office for storage until they collect it. An Post has said people will be able to go to the other post offices. However, we have seen the issues arising from the increasing numbers of parcel deliveries. Anyone who works Monday to Friday will miss their parcel. My understanding of what is currently proposed is that people in the Harmonstown area will have to go to Finglas to collect their parcels. That is a problem when traffic is already bad enough, we are looking to decarbonise our energy system and we are examining the idea of a 15-minute city. Some 2,000 people responded to my petition. That includes only the people I could reach. This is the community that I represent having its say. The sorting office is already up for sale. All we are asking for, as set out in my petition, is that An Post guarantee the community that there will be enough locations from which to collect their parcels. An Post has told us that local collection will remain in the area but there is no detail on that. It is not good enough. How can a community be okay with losing a vital amenity when the detail of what will replace it has not been given? An Post is owned by the people. Since the foundation of the State, it is has been one of the best-run public services. I know a lot of the workers, who are brilliant. They not only do their job; they have a chat with the people who come to collect their parcel. The sorting office is a community asset. I am not asking the Minister of State to collapse An Post and set it right as to its operational needs. The engineers and others working there, when discussing their plans for the day, are trying to react to the changes in how the postal service is being used. What I am asking is that the Minister of State seek a clear answer from An Post as to where the people I represent will collect their post when the sorting office in Harmonstown is gone. They need that answer before the office, which is already up for sale, is relocated. The community needs to know what will replace that service, upon which they rely. I spoke to many people on the doorsteps who were visibly upset about this. The office has been there since they bought their home. It is not acceptable for An Post to say this is an operational matter. It has been done in other areas across the country and has been shown to fail. I would love an answer as to how they will get back to the Minister of State.

An Post is a commercial semi-State company with a mandate to act commercially. As such, day-to-day operational matters such as decisions in relation to the size, distribution and future of the network are matters for the board and the management of the company. They are not matters in respect of which either the Minister of State, Deputy McConalogue, or the Minister, Deputy O’Donovan, have a statutory function. The Ministers are well aware of the impact that decisions relating to changes in An Post operations have on communities and individuals in both rural and urban Ireland. As noted, this is a matter for the company. It would be inappropriate for the Government, as a shareholder, to comment on or prejudice decisions which are for the board and management of An Post to consider. That said, this is an operational matter. Officials have been engaging with the company. An Post has advised in the case of Harmonstown, which the Deputy referred to, that the move is very much in the future and that there is much to be considered in the interim, including the facilities in the local area to be utilised in respect of undelivered mail. An Post has advised that it is in consultation with its staff and their unions on the details of the move. An Post notes that it is consolidating its national network of local sorting offices, which are also known as delivery sorting units, DSU. The company advises that it needs larger and purpose-fitted premises to manage increased parcel volumes. It also advises that as part of a city-wide plan over this year and next, it is relocating a number of its delivery offices to the new city delivery hubs. Among these will be the An Post delivery offices in Harmonstown, Dublin 5, and Griffith Avenue, Whitehall, Dublin 9, moving to a new north Dublin delivery hub. An Post states that the proposed move is scheduled for the second quarter of next year and that there is much to be considered before then. An Post states that its delivery office in Finglas, Dublin 11, will also be sharing the new facility which is being completed and purpose fitted at the North City Business Park in Dublin 11. An Post remains in consultation with its staff and unions on the details of the above moves. An Post further advises that it will facilitate the collection of missed mail in local post offices and parcel collection pick up at the post point outlets. An Post states that the move will have little day-to-day impact on local customers because the same postal workers will be delivering on the same local routes as before. An Post advises that it needs much larger premises and-or repurposed facilities to manage increased parcel volumes and to meet the future needs of the city and the changing needs of customers. An Post notes these new buildings also represent an improvement in working conditions for staff and make huge inroads in terms of sustainability around heating, lighting and the day-to-day operations of buildings like the new delivery hub. An Post advises that it is also hiring 300 additional postmen and postwomen across the country, some of whom will be working in this area, to manage the massive growth in volume. The Government is committed to a sustainable An Post. The post office network as a key component of the economic and social infrastructure throughout Ireland. The programme for Government states that the Government will continue to provide a nationwide network of post offices with funding to ensure their sustainability and to enhance the value they bring to local communities. The Department of Culture, Communications and Sport is working to deliver on this and an enhanced amount of €15 million per annum has been allocated for supporting the network, subject to all legal requirements being satisfied.

I appreciate the response. As I said, An Post is a semi-State company. This is one of the most frustrating things that has been done. I know it has been done across the globe. When it happens, a Minister can offload the issue to the regulator. That is done with the HSE and the NTA. I would love if that could be revoked in order that we could actually elect people who can make decisions rather than having unelected officials in every Department making them. I was in the Chair when the reply was given. I am not having a go at the Minister of State. I welcome the work he has done. I know he is covering for the Minister and is reading out the response that An Post supplied. The other two responses that An Post gave were nearly identical. The only thing that has changed is that the timeline has shifted from very much in the future, which was given to another Deputy in my constituency three weeks ago, to quarter 2 of next year. The Government cannot keep saying it has no statutory function, even though I accept that is the current legal position. However, a shareholder does have influence. Every shareholder has influence and the Government of Ireland should have influence over An Post. The idea that the company is a semi-State body but yet the State has zero influence on it makes no sense. Talk to my constituents before their services are uprooted. I hope the Minister of State will relay this to the Minister and that he, in turn, will relay it to An Post. An Post needs to speak to my constituents. I simply do not accept that a semi-State company cannot communicate with the service users of our national postal service. The people I represent are not asking for this not to be done; they are asking for the basic respect of being told the plan as to where they will collect their post, before the move is made as opposed to afterwards. I will continue to pursue this matter. The petition is still open and more people are signing it every day, because this was thrown at this community. We and the people of north Dublin need to know what is going to happen. I appreciate the Minister of State's engagement so far.

The point the Deputy makes is one that is being made about urban and rural Ireland by people across the country. An Post has been a very trusted brand over many years. As with everything, life evolves. There is a big challenge for An Post in the context of how the traditional mail delivery service has moved on in terms of the amount of mail being posted, but there has also been a huge uptick in parcel deliveries. It is very important that An Post is properly structured, not just in urban areas but also right across the country, because it is a huge brand that we have trust in. In order to ensure its future, very difficult decisions will have to be made. The Deputy made a fundamental point about the collection of undelivered parcels and so forth. There is the An Post network and then there are the post points which are dotted across the cities and urban and rural Ireland. These have to be a hugely integral part of how An Post delivers it services into the future. I am deviating slightly from the note I have been given, but I believe that An Post will have to evolve into the Ireland of 2026 and beyond as we go forward. With the network, brand and trust that An Post has, we need to ensure that is reachable for all urban and rural communities. An Post is expanding its operations and is recruiting over 300 postal staff. That is great to see, and it is hugely important that our semi-State company makes the right decisions in order to ensure that we deliver for the citizens of Ireland over the next number of years.