Post office 'wholesale closure' is denied
Home News (Dail Report): Post office ‘wholesale closure’ is denied
From THE IRISH TIMES, April 5th, 2001
There would be no ‘wholesale closure’ of post offices, the
Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said. The Government wanted the network to stay
in place and to ensure it would be viable. He added: ‘Far from creating any uncertainty, we are anxious to make
sure that as much business, including new and different types of
business, can be given to them so that we can make them viable for
the future’. The issue was raised on the Order of Business by the Labour leader,
Mr Ruairi Quinn, who expressed concern about the uncertainty over
the immediate viability of the post office network. The Fine Gael leader, Mr Michael Noonan, asked if the Government had
any plans to reopen about 80 post offices where those operating them
had difficulty in getting people to take over. Mr Ahern said banking services in many parts of the State had been
pulled out. In those areas it made good sense to develop the post
offices and to give them the technological advances to do much of
the banking work. Asked about cross-Border smuggling and a single veterinary regime
for the island of Ireland, Mr Ahern said there were advantages to
having such a regime. ‘I would be strongly supportive of such a regime, assuming it would
be possible to ensure that the controls equivalent to those
operating between this jurisdiction and Great Britain, the
Netherlands and France were also operating between Northern Ireland
and those countries. Otherwise it would not make much sense.’ He added that there was a lot of evidence that paramilitaries were
to a substantial extent behind smuggling. There was certainly involvement among the newer paramilitary groups,
and that was a major concern. He had spoken about this last week on
the Border. ‘I get the feeling that the reluctance of people in
these communities to speak out on these issues is that they are
afraid to do so. That is sad but I understand it.’
Copyright 2001 Irish Times.
Source: World Reporter (Trade Mark) – FT McCarthy.THE IRISH TIMES, 05th April 2001
