Campaign to save Ireland's most south-westerly post office

TDs are issuing calls to save post offices in communities throughout Ireland, including in Goleen and Blarney in Cork.

The Goleen post office is based in the Along The Way cafe in the heart of the village on the Mizen peninsula.

State subsidies and more Government business are needed to ensure the viability of rural post offices, campaigners have said.

The call came on Tuesday night as two West Cork TDs launched separate campaigns to save Ireland’s most south-westerly post office branch. A similar campaign is under way in Cork City to save Blarney post office.

Nina O'Sullivan at the Save Blarney Post Office protest. Picture; Eddie O'Hare

Cork South West TDs Christopher O’Sullivan (Fianna Fáil) and Michael Collins (Independent) have both appealed for someone to come forward to run Goleen post office on the Mizen peninsula, where postmaster Breda Buckley is due to retire on May 31.

The branch serves a community with an older population, many of whom have difficulty doing transactions online, Mr O’Sullivan said.

Travelling all the way to Schull to use the service is also not an option for many,” he said. 

"The service must be kept in Goleen. This service is too important to lose."

But Mr Collins laid the blame for the imminent closure of Goleen post office, and other struggling rural post offices, at the feet of Government.

An Post said it has advertised twice for a new operator in Goleen, and three times for a new operator in Blarney, all without success.

A spokesman said postmasters are paid on the basis of the volume of transactions in each branch, which both TDs accepted puts rural post offices at an immediate disadvantage.

Locals at the Save Blarney Post Office protest. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

Mr Collins said: “What I have been saying for years is that the Government’s inaction on bringing new business into the post offices in rural Ireland has meant that many rural post offices like Goleen will be forced to close their doors.

“The recent decision to remove the sorting of post from Goleen, Schull, and Ballydehob post offices was, yet again, another hammer blow and a major loss of income for these already struggling post offices.

All efforts by our Rural Independent Group to urge the Government to work on a plan for rural post offices have fallen on deaf ears, as this and previous governments have either announced closures of post offices or are closing them by stealth, by reducing their business and income."

Mr O’Sullivan said An Post has indicated that it is willing to keep the service in Goleen as long as it can recruit somebody to run the post office. He said subsidies for such branches should be considered.

An Post paid out some €8.5m in supports to postmasters during the pandemic at a time when post offices were asked by Government to ensure that cash was kept in circulation.