Question sent by
• An Post plays a vital role in this local community in terms of the jobs and services it provides which must be protected. What steps will you take to ensure that this is the case?
• Can we depend on you to be a guardian of the public interest and vital public services?
• Do you think taxpayers should be forced to fund An Post in the future when it is run without state aid now?
• If not how do you propose to fund the Universal Service Obligation which guarantees that every citizen enjoys a proper postal service with collection and delivery five times a week with a single price to all destinations
Reply from
Kathleen Funchion
Thank you for the question, Sinn Fein is fully committed to the protection of public services, one of the key reasons we oppossed the lisbon treaty was it would have opened up our public services to increased privatization. We want to see a social progress clause included in EU treaties going forward to protect our public services. Proper investment in these services creates jobs and provides valuable services to communities, the post office is a good example of this and it is important that the goverment meets its social obligations. Eircom is a good example of how bad things can go when we privatize our public services, we have one of the worst records in Europe for our roll out of broadband, especially in rural areas and believe it or not it is difficult to get a phone line in your house in some areas! (I have personal experience on this one) In relation to funding our public services we need to see a fair and progessive taxation system, we also need to end wasting tax payers money e.g. evoting machines. I hope this answers your question Kind Regards Kathleen Funchion