Madam, - A report of June 10th headed "An Post to seek €30m in subsidies to meet cost of universal service role" misrepresents the An Post response to the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (DCENR) postal liberalisation consultation.
The headline is completely at odds both with the position of An Post, and with our submission to the DCENR. In fact, our submission stresses that An Post is proud to deliver the Universal Service Obligation (USO), and looks forward to continuing this after liberalisation of the market.
Every day, we help businesses work and citizens communicate, with over 3.5 million items collected and delivered to over 2 million addresses. To prepare for the challenges of competing in a liberalised market, we are implementing major change, already delivering results such as 5 percentage point quality improvements over 2007, and a massive 14 per cent improvement in international mails.
We do not seek any subsidy to provide the USO, though this option is provided in the legislation. We will continue, as we have to date, to finance the cost of delivering the USO ourselves. In fact, it has actually to be established what the cost - or benefit - of the USO is. Any burden, once proven, will require funding to maintain a sustainable universal postal service. However, this does not mean or imply that An Post is seeking a subsidy for the USO.
Furthermore, rather than expressing concerns about "downstream access", An Post welcomes the introduction of an access product, on commercial terms. We are currently evaluating exactly what product could be introduced to best take account of the strides we have made in automating our network.
For the good of the postal market, and the delivery of the USO in the years to come, we are anxious that an informed and well-reasoned debate takes place. An Post looks forward to playing a full and constructive part in this. - Yours, etc,
BARNEY WHELAN,- Director of Communications and Corporate Affairs, An Post, GPO, Dublin, 1.