Postmasters in Donegal have issued a dire warning that at least half the county’s 75 post offices may close in the next two years.
This, they say is due to a decline in business because of government failure to increase the income stream that is vital to the future of the service.
A member of the Irish Postmasters Union in the county told the Tirconail Tribune that since Fine Gael came back to Government in 2011 they’ve paid lip service to saving the network and they’ve failed totally to generate a single cent of revenue to help regenerate the business.
Since 1984 around one thousand post offices have been closed and there are renewed fears that many of the existing 1150 outlets are facing a negative future due to lack of business and a huge reduction in incomes for those running the offices.
The latest area under threat is Dunlewey where a public consultation is ongoing by An Post to determine the future of the service there. A large crowd attended a public meeting in the Ionad Pobail in Dunlewey on Monday night including local TD’s Pat the Cope Gallagher and Pearse Doherty.
Local Cllr John Sheamais Ó Fearraigh said the turnout was an indication of the public concerns about the potential loss of the service.
He said: “The Post Office in Dunlewey has been at the heart of this community since 1955 and we hope that it will remain to serve future generations of the community.”
Meanwhile across the Donegal postal services network, many postmasters believe that the Kerr Report in the coming months into the viability of the offices will suggest a mobile office service, similar to what is offered by the banking system. And it is feared there will be a recommendation that post offices should be located around ten miles apart to help retain the network.
Such a proposal would leave many parishes without an office. In places such as the Fanad Peninsula which has already seen the closure of five offices in recent years this proposal would see the remaining three offices shut due to their proximity to the village of Kerrykeel which is less than ten miles distant.
Meanwhile, Breid Gallagher of Dunfanaghy Post Office and spokesperson for the IPU told the Tribune that the failure of government to direct community services back to their local post office was a matter of the most serious concern for the union.
Saying that Deputy Thomas Pringle is the only Donegal TD who has kept the issue alive during Leader’s Questions in the Dail, M/s Gallagher says the silence of the county’s other deputies is baffling and very worrying.
She said: “The lack of services is adding our rural isolation all over the west of Ireland and Donegal is facing a serious loss of services despite all the promises by government to ensure the viability of rural areas.
“We expect more rural offices to close because the government has allowed a vital stream of business away from us and the public are encouraged to use the banking and post point services instead.”
Meanwhile, Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice says that references to ‘rural needs’ is mentioned in the programme for government 67 times, nothing has happened in the past six months to develop and viable business model that will attract new service and make the network secure for the future.
It is also pointed out that post offices suffer an income loss of €15,000 when it taken over by a new tenant and that is making it impossible to remain open.
These issues will come to the fore when the IPU delegation appears at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on November 9th.
There has been mounting pressure for the terms of the Bobby Kerr Report to be published but apparently the IPU members are not holding their breaths in anticipation of an immediate solution.
The EU has already made it clear that it cannot intervene to stop Ireland from closing rural post offices. Authorities in Brussels say it is entirely up to individual countries to decide how to run their postal systems, as long as they run for five days a week. A report commissioned by the Irish Postmasters Union from Grant Thornton previously found that some 557 post offices are at risk of closure if the government continues to move to electronic payments.
The report found that by 2017 there would be a decline of 48% in the post office network.
It also found that where direct electronic payments are introduced and 75% of payments are done without the involvement of the network, 444 Post Offices would be lost by 2017.
It is this reality that all communities fear as they see very little Government action to redirect services and a new income stream to the post offices.
Last year Deputy Pringle launched a stinging attack when An Post sought to have Jobseekers bypass Post Offices
He accused the government of paying lip service to the post office network, while simultaneously urging job seekers to use banks and other financial institutions.
As the battle to retain vital post offices in rural Ireland continues the reality is that many have already been consigned to history.
The FF-Green Party Government presided over 197 post office closures over a four-year period from 2006 to 2010. Just 17 post offices have closed since then it is claimed.
Cllr. O’Fearraigh added: “Should the branch close, then this will be a huge blow to local people and businesses and to all those who depend on the services offered by the post office network. The closure of a post office can have a devastating impact on a rural community and every effort must now be made to ensure that the Post Office branch in Dunlewey can remain open well into the future,” he said.
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