Postal Services Dail Éireann — 2026-06-18 ============================================================ Barry Heneghan (IND), Dublin Bay North 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. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-06-18/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:51+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-06-18