Deputy Pearse Doherty is urging all parties and non-aligned TDs to support the party’s upcoming Dáil motion which aims to save 159 rural post offices from closure, including seventeen planned closures throughout Donegal.
Sinn Féin will table the motion tonight.
Deputy Doherty said “The imminent closure of 159 post offices, including seventeen branches here in our own county, stands to devastate the communities affected.
“Tonight’s Sinn Féin motion, which my party colleagues and I have tabled, aims to prevent these closures by advertising new contracts, offering alternative services and allowing the potential for co-location of post offices where such an arrangement would be appropriate.
“Similarly, our Dáil motion calls for the reinvigoration of the network by extending the services they provide and by retaining existing services such as social welfare payments.”
The Donegal TD said this motion now provides TDs from all parties and none with an opportunity to speak as one and stop these closures, but it needs their support if it’s to pass.
He added “As I’ve said many times, local post office branches are a vital element in the sustainability of many small towns, villages and communities across Ireland but our rural post office network has been under sustained attack in recent years from Governments who have overseen the closure of hundreds of rural post offices.
“Over recent days and weeks, local Sinn Féin representatives and I have been attending a number of public meetings and we’ve been working closely with communities across Donegal as part of efforts to prevent these closures.
“This is because Sinn Féin supports these campaigns to retain local postal services across the state however, additional financial and statutory services should be delivered through the post office and this will require a fundamental policy change and a rethink about how services are delivered.
“Sinn Féin is now calling time on this attack on rural Ireland and I am calling on all TDs to lend their support to our motion when it comes before the Dáil tonight.”
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