Irish Examiner view: Delivering a little piece of art every day

An Post celebrates a centenary of art on stamps

Contemporary visual artist Amanda Coogan at the unveiling of new stamps celebrating 100 years of Irish art on stamps. Picture: Maxwells

Within the recent debilitating debate about the centrality of An Post in the life of Irish citizens, it is worth remembering another uplifting service that is delivered regularly into our homes via the Republic’s 900 post offices, most of which are independently operated.

There have been stamps in Ireland since the 1840s as part of the British postal system, but they really came into their own in February 1922 when they were overprinted with Irish text.