700 post offices could shut, warns union

UP to 700 small rural post offices will close in the next five years, the Irish Postmasters Union warned, after Communications Minister Noel Dempsey yesterday ruled out giving them a supplementary income.

Half the current 1,400 postmasters and post mistresses earn less than the minimum wage of €15,500 and the union had asked the minister to supplement their income in recognition of the social contribution of rural and local post offices.

IPU general secretary John Kane said many of their members were earning as little as €8,000 a year and could not continue to survive without a supplement from the State.

“We asked the minister to guarantee these people at least the minimum wage because they are struggling to survive in isolated rural areas,” Mr Kane said.

Mr Dempsey has the power to do this under the Public Service Obligation, which allows the State to subsidise services seen as essential to the public. This is done in the case of CIE, where bus routes which are not economically viable are subsidised by the State.

“But the minister did not give us any encouragement to pursue our request for a supplementary income and did not respond to our demand,” Mr Kane said.

Mr Dempsey seemed constrained in his ability to extend the Public Service Obligation to small post offices, Mr Kane added.

Three-hundred post offices have closed in the past three years and the IPU believes this rate is set to accelerate in the next five years because many of their members are due to retire.

“I believe that up to 700 rural post offices will shut down because their relatives cannot survive on the money,” Mr Kane said.

Mr Dempsey said he would examine the IPU proposals but warned there was little hope the Government would commit to them.

But he did give a commitment to see if he could secure more business for post offices, such as the payment of garda fines and car tax. The minister also said he would hold talks with Social and Family Affairs Minister Seamus Brennan to maximise the amount of social welfare business processed by post offices.