The head of An Post has told an Oireachtas Committee that "rising revenues" at the company mean it is "strongly in profit, strongly in growth", and with "an overfunded pension fund".
CEO of An Post David McRedmond told the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications that the company is "self-sufficient", and during the pandemic took no State subsidies, furlough payments, or Pandemic Unemployment Payments "for any staff".
Committee members agreed with his remark that during the pandemic, An Post "rediscovered its ... soul of public service".
An Post had stood up "for older and vulnerable customers", he said.
"I have not seen a brighter future for the network than I see now", Mr McRedmond added.
However, he acknowledged that emerging from the pandemic will be "difficult", and "hard work".
While the company posted a loss of €10m last year, Mr McRedmond said that before depreciation costs were deducted, it recorded a profit of €916m, and expects to post a profit this year.
He said the "transformation" of An Post from 2017 created the €50m cushion, which was invested to get the organisation through the pandemic.
Of that €10m was spent on Personal Protective Equipment, and €8m to accommodate changed working arrangements.
Unlike most European countries, Mr McRedmond said, in Ireland "99% of routes" and "99% of post offices" stayed open during the pandemic.
MD of An Post Retail Debbie Byrne said there is a bright future in the growth of parcels.
She said that An Post has "big ambitions for e-commerce", banking services, and hopes to become "the backbone" for online shopping.
There is a real opportunity for post offices to "offer more services", Ms Byrne added, such as driving licences.
However, she said "the missing part of the strategy is delivery of Government services."
Mr McRedmond said that over the coming weeks he would be meeting with a new Government committee that is looking at the issue.
The committee heard that PUP payments made into bank accounts have reduced footfall and An Post needs those customers back.
Ms Byrne said that An Post is the largest provider of foreign exchange, and the decline in this trade has also hit the company.
However, during the pandemic, and unlike many other European services, Ms Byrne said An Post increased private stamp sales, especially to younger people.
Committee Chair Fine Gael's Kieran O'Donnell said postmasters across the country are "facing a cliff edge on the first of July" when support payments end.
Mr McRedmond said that he is close to announcing details of a new support to begin at the end of this month
"We don't see money coming from Government", he said, adding that the payment would depend on "what we can afford to do and what is reasonable".
Over the past 18 months, ten post offices permanently closed, Ms Byrne said.
Mr McRedmond added that over the past three years, 192 post offices had closed.
Both said there would be further closures, but could not say how many.
