Postal service across Cork 'in meltdown'

'Elderly person sent important application form containing sensitive personal details by registered post, only to be informed that it has been lost'

Hard-pressed farmers are receiving milk cheques behind schedule, and small business owners say they have begun making their own deliveries because they no longer trust the postal system.

Sick and elderly people are missing vital hospital appointments, some estates haven’t received post in more than two weeks, registered letters are going astray, and one man even lost his work permit after key documents were delivered extremely late.

Meanwhile, hard-pressed farmers are receiving milk cheques behind schedule, and small business owners say they have begun making their own deliveries because they no longer trust the postal system.

These are among a series of complaints raised by Cork county councillors, who say An Post’s service in the region is “in meltdown”.

They are formally requesting that Labour TD Alan Kelly, chair of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment, Climate Action and Communications, call senior An Post officials before the committee to explain the disruption.

Some of these issues were outlined in a joint motion from Independent councillor Finbarr Harrington and Labour councillor Cathal Rasmussen, which prompted a string of other councillors to weigh in with accounts of what they described as an ever‑worsening postal service in the region.

Councillors have described it as “absolutely ridiculous” that internal Cork post has to go to a sorting office in Portlaoise and come back down to the county again.

Mr Harrington who lives in Allihies, said the village recently lost its post office. “The local post box was unavailable for over a month," he said.

"For a community already impacted by the loss of its post office, that's simply unacceptable.

"I’m aware of one man who sent a telescope worth thousands of euro by registered post back to a manufacturer for repair. It's since been lost and he’s been offered just €160 in compensation, a fraction of its value.” Mr Harrington added: “In another case, an elderly person sent an important application form containing sensitive personal details by registered post, only to be informed that it too has been lost.

"I also know a case of a man waiting on a work permit issued in early February, but was only delivered last week. As a result, he’s unable to travel as planned and had to forfeit a return ticket to Ireland because he didn't have the required documentation."

Mr Rasmussen claimed An Post is prioritising parcel deliveries over traditional mail and no longer has the staff needed to cope with the increased workload.

“The public don’t care what the issues are, they just want delivery of their post. The staff are getting abused in some cases by the public due to delays in deliveries and when I raised the whole issue with customer service and management some time ago as a public rep I didn’t even get a response,” he said.

Fine Gael councillor Una McCarthy said one estate in her hometown of Carrigaline hadn’t received a letter in two weeks. “Yet I’m getting mail every day.” Fianna Fáil councillor Patrick Mulcahy said An Post guaranteed delivery before Christmas if letters and cards were posted by December 21. “I have some constituents who didn’t get post until the middle of January,” he said.

Aontú councillor Peter O’Donoghue pointed out that 34 post offices have closed in Cork in the past 10 years, the biggest reduction of any county in the State.

Independent councillor Ger Curley, whose wife is a postmistress in Cobh, said postmen and women are exhausted and the situation will only get worse as An Post proposes to deliver up to 20m parcels next year.