An Post rejects concerns over crisis in network

A report commissioned by Grant Thornton warned of “unrestrained post office closures” after June 2021. This has been rejected by An Post management.

Management at An Post has rejected claims the post office network is close to a "cliff-edge".

The Irish Postmasters’ Union previously warned that 200 post offices are in danger of closing, with July flagged as D-day for the sector.

A report commissioned by Grant Thornton warned of “unrestrained post office closures” after June 2021.

However, CEO of An Post, David McRedmond, rejected the warning at an Oireachtas committee today, noting the "future is bright" for the service, which recorded €916m profit in 2020.

"We moved from losses into profit each year to maintain the longtime viability of the network," he said, despite adding the pandemic cost the service €50m.

"An Post is moving in a very strong positive direction and so is the Post Office Network but it will take longer to get there."

Managing Director of An Post Retail, Debbie Byrne, said the new hybrid working model of working from home offers "a real opportunity" to offer new services while Mr McRedmond said that the service "had found its soul" during the pandemic.

Ms Byrne added that the Pandemic Unemployment Payment and other social welfare payments being paid directly into people's bank accounts had severely reduced footfall into post offices, and she appealed for such payments to be paid in person again as the lockdown unwinds.

Many in the committee took issue with local post office closures, with chairman of the committee Fine Gael TD Kieran O’Donnell saying: "Many years ago we had rail lines the length and breadth of Ireland and now we're looking to restore those rail lines. We can't allow the same links removed with An Post."

Fianna Fáil senator Timmy Dooley said An Post closures were "robbing from them (local villages) the opportunity of self-fulfilling life and the viability of the local shop".

Ms Byrne said that An Post had a sustainable financial model and that "of the offices that closed in 2019-2020, of the post offices that business transferred to, the average increase of business was 9.8%, that created viability for that next year of post offices.

"We have to look at the size of the population, but if you divide the cake too small it doesn't create viable opportunity."

Mr McRedmond said they did not "have a number" of the amount of closures they expected after the summer, as it's "an ongoing thing" and added that post offices are "individual businesses and we work very closely with the unions with our own staff in 45 company offices and 9000 staff across An Post".