Litir Um Thoghchan service ought to be abolished – McGrath

Independent TD Mattie McGrath has called for the abolition of the Dáil, & Seanad Free Postage Scheme known as Litir Um Thoghchan. The Scheme which is operated by An Post is an exercise of the powers conferred on it by Section 74 of the Postal and Telecommunications Services Act, 1983:

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“I am firmly of the view that outgoing TD’s and Senators have sufficient opportunities to communicate with the electorate without this extra service being provided.

Clogging up the post system with what could potentially be thousands of letters or postcards seems grossly unnecessary and to mind creates an unwillingness for TD’s to get out there and meet their own people.

I would hope that for the next election we could have moved to a place where the Scheme was wound down in favour of a more personal face to face approach.

Sending in multiples of the same document or election material to households is not something people want or appreciate and in fact only leads to resentment about unnecessary waste,” concluded Deputy McGrath.