Mick Clifford: An Post is indeed doing fine, but the company’s original business is in bad shape

An Post has accelerated diversification away from mail delivery and into ecommerce and financial services

The post office has been an integral feature of rural, and to a lesser but still significant extent, urban Ireland for centuries. Picture: Denis Minihane

Managing decline is never easy. So it has been with Ireland’s post offices. 

Over the last 30 years or so, the State’s network has been reduced from nearly 2,000 to less than 1,000.