The Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, gave a commitment yesterday that the services of the Post Office network throughout the State would be maintained.
The Minister was speaking following publication of the report by the inter-departmental working group studying the financial crisis of the network. It proposed transferring a large number of post offices to a third-party agency such as retail outlets or petrol stations.
"What the Government is saying is that there will be a Government presence right throughout Ireland, in whatever shape or form that will be, whether it be a post office as we know it in many areas, linked with a shop already there, or a Government services outlet offering a range of services," the Minister said on RTE radio yesterday.
Mr Seamus Boland of the lobby group Irish Rural Link (IRL) said he felt the transfer of services to retail outlets would weaken the post office network throughout the State.
"It effectively means that the post office services may not be guaranteed under this agency system because this system will rely on the economic viability of such a post office and therefore a full range of services may not be guaranteed."
He said IRL wanted the Government to set up a forum - similar to that being proposed to discuss the future of the European Union - to discuss the matter.
Ms O'Rourke said that if a plan had not been put in place for post offices there would be losses of £80 million a year in four years' time. "There is nobody could sustain that going on forever." She said she would be happy to consult with IRL and other community groups who were concerned.
The Labour Party TD Mr Emmet Stagg said consumers should be consulted in advance of the proposed overhaul of the network.
It was at a crossroads, he said, and major reform was needed if it was to survive. "To date, the debate about the future of the network has been dominated by the board of An Post and the Minister. The voice of consumers, who have genuine concerns that must be taken on board, has not been heard yet. The Minister has a responsibility to listen to consumers before reaching final conclusions about the Post Office."
He suggested the agents being proposed would be able to cherry-pick the most profitable services and not offer other essential services.
Fine Gael said it would insist there was no diminution of services in the newly restructured system. The party's spokesman on public enterprise, Mr Jim Higgins, is to request an early meeting of the Oireachtas Committee on Public Enterprise and Transport to debate the plans.
While the service needed to be restructured and modernised, he said, any restructuring must not be at the expense of the number of outlets or the range of services on offer.