A rural community saw out the old year in sadness yesterday as their post office closed for the final time after 100 years.
Three generations of the Dooley family have run the post office in Cappataggle, Co Galway, but An Post declined to renew the contract beyond the end of the year.
The local community fought a mammoth battle, bringing the fight to the doors of the GPO in Dublin and even staging a hunger strike last weekend in a bid to win a reprieve for the facility.
Up to 150 locals gathered at the post office as the closing time of 5.30pm arrived. Older members of the community were visibly upset at the closure.
Retired schoolteacher Michael Kilgannon (74) who had begun a hunger strike last weekend in protest at the closure said he was "determined to continue the fight".
But he acknowledged that the closure had taken place despite the best efforts of everybody in the locality. He confirmed that he would now end his hunger strike, but castigated the management of An Post for not showing up to face the locals on the final day.
“As usual, the people who have made this decision are hiding behind the title of An Post. We’ll now review the situation and decide where we go from here,” he said.
But An Post stressed the decision to close the post office had followed a process of consultation and the closure would go ahead.
The company pointed to the establishment by the Government of a review group to look at the future of the Irish post office network.
Company management were strongly criticised for failing to defer the closure of Cappataggle post office until the review had been completed. Locals pointed to the stay of execution afforded to Barnaderg post office near Tuam which was also threatened with closure.
"It should certainly be kept open pending that review," Independent TD Denis Naughten said.
Mr Naughten pointed to the fact that postmasters had to sign the Official Secrets Act and, as such, were a trusted group. “Why start dispensing with such people in the absence of information from the review?” he asked.
Local councillor Tim Broderick said the closure was "utterly unacceptable" and questioned the way An Post had handled it.
“The retail operations manager for the west has been in contact by phone a couple of times with instructions about the closure, but the postmistress has never received formal written notice of the closure as is required,” he claimed.