The Minister for Communications Denis Naughten MUST intervene and prevent the closure of 110 rural post offices and the destruction of rural communities across the state. Nine of these post offices are located in County Mayo.
An Post’s retirement deal is a very worrying development for rural communities and will no doubt lead to further decline of services in rural Ireland.
It is estimated that around 110 small post offices are at risk of closure because of new contractual arrangements with An Post. These have come about as a result of the attractive retirement deal that An Post is offering to existing postmasters.
A list of post offices across rural Ireland which were at imminent threat of closure included post offices Ballindine, Ballyglass, Belcarra, Carrowmore Lacken, Cross, Doocastle, Finny, Hollymount and Kilmaine.
An Post has an integral role in servicing communities and these areas will be seriously impacted as a result.
This is happening under the nose of Minister Naughten. If he is serious about reversing rural decline, then he must intervene to save these post offices from closure.
A plan must be put in place to allow that post office remain in its own premises or for another local business to take it over.
I would encourage all communities facing a post office closure to appeal to An Post through their review mechanism which can be done in writing to review@anpost.ie or Independent Reviewer, An Post GPO, Dublin 1.
This is an issue which I have raised repeatedly in the Seanad and I will continue to do so. Our post office network is a vital piece of social, community as well as business infrastructure which must be protected if rural Ireland is to thrive.
