Union calls for post offices to be used for range of new services

A decision by the Government to sanction the payment of motor tax through post offices would be a clear signal that it was serious about supporting communities across the State, the Irish Postmasters’ Union has said.

Union secretary general Ned O’Hara said the 1,100 postmasters across the State were not looking for a subvention but for new services, including motor tax payments, to be made through the post office and for their social role to be recognised.

Mr O’Hara was speaking at the end of the union’s agm which was attended by 120 postmasters at the Sheraton Hotel in Athlone.

The union is calling on the new minority Government to implement the recommendations of the Bobby Kerr review of the postal network, which Mr O'Hara said the last government had initiated.

Submission

The union paid tribute to Minister for Communications

Denis Naughten

, who met some of the executives after its agm, as he had made a submission to the Bobby Kerr review.

Mr Naughten told reporters the post office network “is an issue close to my heart”.

The union had planned to run a number of candidates in the general election but withdrew them to make progress in talks on the retention of the network. Mr O’Hara said one of their candidates said “she could do a clinic every day. She deals with more social problems than any Government Minister because she deals with people every day.”

Investment

Mr O’Hara said 1.7 million people used the post office “and I don’t like to use the term but because they’re the plain people of Ireland, they’re forgotten about”.

“They’re not out on the streets jumping up and down. They’re not protesting about this, that and the other. A bit like the grey brigade a few years ago, they got finally annoyed enough they were able to provoke action,” he said.

He called on the Government to invest in the network and sanction more services.

Union president Paddy McCann said that unless the Government moved decisively and quickly as promised in the programme for government “hundreds of post offices will become unviable and the voters will have been betrayed”.

Mr McCann said the Government would take the view that it would not close any post offices but when a postmaster retires, there was usually no interest in taking over because of the poor income.