Postal and Telecommunications Services (Amendment) Bill 2026 [Certified Money Bill]: Second Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-14
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Evanne Ní Chuilinn (FG), Nominated by the Taoiseach

I welcome the Minister of State to the Seanad for this very important legislation. It is a very short Bill but a very impactful one. The Postal and Telecommunications Services (Amendment) Bill 2026 amends the 1983 Act to provide a legal basis for increased State funding to support the nationwide post office network. We have spoken about this network quite a bit in the past 12 months in the Seanad. With the introduction of the extra funding, it authorises €75 million over a five-year period, which equates to €15 million annually. It will help An Post maintain its network, thereby ensuring it continues to meet the State's social and household service needs across Ireland.
I hope that this funding will help to prevent further closures. I was encouraged to see some of the detail in the Bill around the 125% increase in funding for offices located more than 15 km from the nearest post office. We have seen a couple of issues with post offices that have closed over the past couple of years. We had one close in Bluebell, in Dublin, a couple of years ago. The nearest one now is in Inchicore, which does not seem like a long way but for those who are older or perhaps not as mobile it is really important that those post offices that are serving extra communities get the extra funding.
It is important to point out as well that the longer-term direction of the network will require a combination of State support like this and commercial innovation from An Post and, of course, continued use by the public of the services being provided by the post offices.
I am encouraged as well to see transactions up by 10%, which does bode well for the viability of the network. It shows that there is a continued use of the services by the public. I fully support this Bill. As was said, it is very short legislation but very impactful. I echo what Senator Comyn said about getting this through as swiftly as possible before the summer recess.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-07-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:52:15+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-14