Government blamed for closure of 400 post offices

THE Government has been blamed for the closure of more than 400 post offices over the last five years.

The absence of coherent Government policy on the post office network has seen a haemorrhage of postmasters and postmistresses from the system, the Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Marine and Natural Resources heard yesterday.

“The post office network has continued to be in decline for the last number of years,” John Kane of the Irish Postmasters’ Union told the committee.

“Four hundred offices have gone in the last five years, and a couple of hundred went before that. If corrective action is not taken urgently, we’ll end up with a lot more (going), with the resulting loss of our members’ livelihood, but more importantly, the loss of a very valuable social service to the citizens of the State.”

Mr Kane told the committee the members “are being short-changed” by as much as €20 million.

It was costing the union’s 1,300 post offices approximately €75m a year to provide services, Mr Kane said. But they were receiving only €55m from semi-State company An Post as payment for that provision.

One threat to the business is the proposal to issue social welfare payments directly into bank accounts rather than via post offices. In a submission to the committee, Mr Kane said the Government and An Post had to deliver in three areas if the network was to survive:

* They had to decide on what size and quality of network should be available to the public.

* Any proposed reduction in the size of the network had to be achieved “only on a structured, planned and voluntary basis and only with the aid of a suitable, agreed exit package”.

* A “cast-iron commitment” had to be given that the remaining post offices would be properly resourced and adequately paid.