Bad weather hampers postal deliveries

An Post has admitted the bad weather is hampering deliveries of mail in the run up to Christmas but said it is doing everything possible to ensure customers get the parcels they are expecting.

A spokeswoman from An Post said its workers were working “flat out” to get as many deliveries completed before Christmas Day.

However, while advising the public not to panic if they have not received any post recently, An Post's head of corporate communications Anna McHugh said delays were likely given the adverse weather conditions affecting much of the country.

Typically, An Post delivers between 2.5 million and 3 million of items every day. This more than doubles in the fortnight leading up to Christmas.

"Mail volumes have been particularly heavy of late because of the cold snap a few weeks back which meant that people didn't get organised as early as they usually would. We've also seen a significant rise in the number of parcels being sent because many consumers are buying presents online this year" she said. "People shouldn’t panic about not getting their packages but in some instances deliveries will be long and late."

During the last cold spell at the beginning of December, postal services were severely curtailed with no deliveries in many parts of Leinster, Connacht and Munster.

Ms McHugh said An Post had deliveries out in every part of the country this week but said it was struggling to reach people in regions such as West Cork, parts of Leinster and in the northwest.

"In general we've been able to get most of the mail through the main centres and out to local delivery offices. Luckily out staff around the country know their areas and therefore know alternative routes to try to reach people," she said.

"The icy roads remain the key problem for us because it is slowing everything down but we are doubling up with staff going out together to help each other out and big community efforts underway. There are some isolated and high-lying areas that are particularly dangerous and are a real problem but we are doing everything we can and we won't give up easily," she added.

Earlier this week, Royal Mail said it intended to add up to extra evening deliveries in the North to cope with a back-log caused by the weather.