West Cork town left without postal service last week

It meant new bank cards, medical appointment letters, and motor tax certificates were delayed for people in Glengarriff

Last September, as part of a restructuring of its mail network, An Post announced the opening of a new purpose-fitted mail facility in Bantry in which staff in the areas of Glengarriff, Dunmanway, and Kealkiil would be relocated. Picture: Denis Minihane.

People in Glengarriff in West Cork were left without a postal service all last week, leading to new bank cards, medical appointment letters, and motor tax certificates being delayed.

Last September, as part of a restructuring of its mail network, An Post announced the opening of a new purpose-fitted mail facility in Bantry in which staff in the areas of Glengarriff, Dunmanway, and Kealkiil would be relocated. At the time, An Post stated that customers in these areas would “still be getting the same local services from their postmen and women”.

However, Fine Gael councillor Caroline Cronin said she believes this restructuring, coupled with staffing issues at An Post, may be behind last week’s disruption.

“This relocation has led to a lot of changes for the postal workers — their daily routes have changed and the times that the post is being delivered to homes and businesses has changed as well,” she claimed.

Speaking to Patricia Messinger on C103's Cork Today Show, Ms Cronin said that, where two postal workers had previously covered the already relatively large Glengarriff area, most of this work was now being done by just one.

Ms Cronin also claimed that although this postal worker is meant to begin work at 7am and finish at 3pm, they are "actually working 10, 11 hours some days, and obviously longer on peak times".

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This postal worker is travelling an average of around 160km per day — from the Glengarriff area to the new unit in Bantry to collect the post, before then driving back to the Glengariff area to deliver it, she said.

Cllr Cronin said because of the disruption of mail services in the area, an elderly local woman waiting on a new bank card had to ask her local supermarket for credit so she could pay for her shopping. Another resident in the area was unable to replace their out-of-date Motor Tax disc.

Ms Cronin also she had been informed that postal services in the Glengarriff area were now back to normal, though she speculated that the delivery backlog may take a few more days to clear.

The Irish Examiner has contacted An Post for comment.