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THE IRISH POSTMASTERS’ Union (IPU) is calling on the government to move the provision of Motor Tax renewal to post offices.
The IPU is citing a report by Grant Thornton on the future of the Post Office Network which found that moving the renewal of Motor Tax to Post Offices could save the taxpayer €27m over five years.
It would have an overall benefit of €63m when the additional business it would bring to Post Offices is factored in.
The report estimated that there is a transaction cost of €15-€20 for Motor Tax renewal in the current system. Postmasters are offering to deliver it for €2 per transaction.
Ciarán McEntee of the IPU said Post Offices are “committed to expanding the range of government and consumer services they provide” and are “ideally positioned to do this with a network of 1,150 Offices across the country”.
“Many people do not realise the ever-increasing range of services available through the Post Office. As well as the standard Postal Services and Welfare Payments; Post Offices now provide Passport Express, NTMA savings, Property Tax, Garda Fixed Fines, Dog Licenses and banking services.
“We know there is strong support for keeping Post Offices at the heart of the community and Postmasters want to work with government, financial service providers and customers to provide the products and services that will make this happen.”
A cross-departmental Working Group was established by the Cabinet last May to identify what additional public services could be provided through Post Offices.
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There is ALWAYS more than one reason for an accident, blaming the driver entirely is wrong in my opinion. For instance, a reckless individual would have been noted by somebody else in the company at least once in the past 13 yrs. We will have to wait for the final report to know ALL the factors that caused this tragedy.
He woke up on thursday mornin as a train driver.. He went to sleep with a charge of reckless manslaughter of 78 people hanging over him..
His life is ruined no matter how guilty or innocent he is.. Along with all the other families who lost loved ones…
I wouldn’t make my mind up about any incident like this until a full technical report about the track/train was published,this seems all a bit too quick,he’s still in hospital FFS
Agreed. Let the man recover a bit first before charging at him with axes and burning torches.
This man should be put down after this act of negligence! Bragging on his Facebook page about goin 200 kph you would think he was a teenager. Hope he never sleeps again thinking of what he did
Have you forgotten the possibility that it may not be his fault ? An unlikely possibility maybe but angry mob mentality will do nobody any good.
I think there is the possibility that the Facebook page was a fake.
Have to agree with you there Patrick. And @ the journal.ie… why did you report yesterday that he had been charged with reckless homicide and now he faces “possible charges of reckless homicide”!? Same guy, two different qoutes??
I presume the driver didn’t get up in the morning and say ” I’m going to kill a load of passengers today” ……….
I have to agree there with the comment @ Journal. Come on guys – you’ve got a great news portal already without resorting to sensationalism. Leave that to the experts at Sky.
Hi there,
I don’t think any article yesterday said the driver was charged? There was one which said he had been detained since Thursday “for the alleged crimes of reckless homicide” but there was no mention of charges.
Hi Jennifer,
My apologies… It wasn’t here on The Journal that I read that. Got them mixed up. Damn, I hate my obsession with the news :)
Sorry Jennifer.
Ah, that’s what you get for reading your news elsewhere ;) No worries, guys.
From what I’ve read in the Spanish media, the accident occurred pretty much at the point where the train moved from AVE (high speed) lines with very advanced signaling that controls the trains’ speed and won’t allow a driver to exceed speed limits to a conventional normal speed line where signaling systems wouldn’t control the train speed but only advise the driver of it.
I think we need to wait for the dust to settle and allow the technical investigation to run its course before we jump to any conclusions about the driver.
The investigation will be very through and that’s a very high tech train so it will have onboard camera and data recorders.
They’ll go through this much like an air crash investigation.
Innocent ’til proven guilty, eh ? Oh, sorry, wrong way around for some on here. As others have said;, ignore the media speculation and wait for the full report. Media speculates to sell their product, regardless of fallout to any individual, the driver in this case. Benefit of the doubt, people, benefit of the doubt.
Innocent ’til proven guilty, eh ? Oh, sorry, wrong way around for some on here. As others have said;, ignore the media speculation and wait for the full report. Media speculates to sell their product, regardless of fallout to any individual, the driver in this case. Benefit of the doubt, people, benefit of the doubt.
have your say