An Post denies Euro stamp blunder

An Post denied today that it made a mapping blunder by slicing a new European Union member state from its commemorative stamp run.

An Post put the unusual depiction of the new 25-state EU bloc down to space and a smattering of artistic licence.

The stamp designers appear to have given the Mediterranean sunshine isle of Crete the cold shoulder and put its neighbour Cyprus in its hot spot.

They have also been criticised for not marking the border between the Republic and the North.

A spokesman for An Post said: “The stamp was organised to commemorate the accession or European expansion.

“It’s not a map. A stamp is an inch and a bit by an inch.

“The design company were asked to give us a representation with the new countries including the 10 states.”

The commemorative 300,000 stamp run went on sale on May 1 to mark the EU enlargement as the 25 heads of state met in Dublin’s Farmleigh House.

Steven King, an eagle-eyed advisor to Ulster Unionist David Trimble, also spotted the failure to mark the Irish border and sent away a copy of the Belfast Agreement to An Post today in jest.

“I did it this morning,” he said. “I saw the story about Cyprus and I looked at it and spotted there was no border there.

“I sent the Agreement to An Post in jest. I’m not taking it that seriously.”

Dublin stamp dealer Peter Geoffroy said about one in 20 stamps runs had an error – it was not that unusual. He said of the Cyprus error that “it was very minor, it should have been spotted at the proof reading stage”.

An Post said it was nonsense to say the designers shifted the countries around. The stamp was only a representation of the new European Union.

“They weren’t moved that’s the point,” he added.

Mr Geoffroy warned budding collectors that the error would not affect the value of the 65c (44p) stamp.

He said: “Every stamp has the same error so it won’t be more valuable.”