JUST BEFORE lunchtime today, about 80 delegates, including officials from the European Commission, will gather in Dublin’s Westin Hotel to debate the liberalisation of the Irish postal market, which must be completed by the end of December 2010.
It’s a process that’s been in train for about 16 years, but one that cannot be longfingered any longer. The final stage will involve the market for letters weighing less than 50g – about two-thirds of deliveries here – being opened to all and sundry.
A series of slides will be presented from a report produced by Ecorys on market deregulation across Europe. Remarkably, 40 per cent of the replies received for the report came from users in Ireland. Perhaps not so surprising was the fact that 40 per cent of respondents in Ireland were not happy with the service provided by An Post. This compared with 35 per cent of respondents in the rest of Europe being dissatisfied with their national postal operator.
In relation to the quality of An Post’s service in particular, 78 per cent of respondents were unhappy, compared with 57 per cent for the rest of Europe.
It’s a large gap but shouldn’t surprise given that An Post’s next- day delivery rate is 79 per cent – well below its 94 per cent target. We all have stories of post taking days to get from one end of the State to the other.
The Department of Communications last year ran a consultation process on liberalisation, but Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan has yet to announce any decisions.
ComReg, the postal regulator, has indicated that Easter 2010 is the latest practical date for a new postal act – the current one dates back to 1908 – to come into force before liberalisation if it is to put in place a licensing regime and new operators are to have a chance to organise themselves.
Failure by the Government to enact the necessary law by the end of next year would leave us open to a fine from the European Commission – the last thing the exchequer needs.
Liberalisation need not be to the detriment of An Post. Sweden’s market was opened up in 1993 and is regarded as one of the most efficient in the world. Its state-owned national operator – Posten – remains profitable and holds a 91 per cent share of the letters market despite competing with 33 other groups.
The Government needs to put in place robust legislation that will incentivise others to compete with An Post while also beefing up ComReg’s enforcement powers.
Over to you, Minister.
