Post office network ‘facing collapse’
Over a quarter of post offices have closed down since 2000 and the entire network faces collapse in the coming years unless the Government addresses fears over declining business and a possible loss of social welfare payments.
That’s according to the Irish Postmasters’ Union (IPU) which claims hundreds of members are earning less than the legal minimum wage, despite remaining open for up to 50 hours every week.
Already this year, 44 outlets have shut their doors for the last time.
There were 1,409 post offices and sub-post offices in the network on January 1, but that figure has dropped to 1,365 just 11 months later. The vast majority are sub-offices, with only 84 full post offices left in the country.
“We’ve argued very strongly, without success, with An Post and the Minister for Communications, that the whole post office network is in serious jeopardy unless somebody takes radical action soon,” IPU general secretary John Kane told the Irish Examiner.
He said dissatisfaction with remuneration is prompting postmasters and postmistresses to leave the service, while concern is also mounting about the future of Government business — such as social welfare payments — which is carried out in post offices.
“We have 35 people earning €8,000 a year, which is below the poverty line. There’s 300 or 400 people who are earning less than the legal minimum wage,” Mr Kane said.
“I’ve spoken to people in very large offices, very busy offices, who say that if business declines any more they won’t be able to stay there,” he said.
Members of the union in urban areas face problems such as the cost of property and wage bills, say the IPU, while rural post offices are being hit by declining levels of business as consumers head to the big towns to shop.
About 70% of post office business is Government-related and the IPU is concerned about this following a recommendation from the European Court of Justice’s Advocate General that social welfare payments be put out to tender.
“If that was to be given to anyone bar the post office, you could kiss goodbye to the whole network,” said Mr Kane.
The union has suggested part-time offices, opening on certain mornings or afternoons rather than the current five-and-a-half day week, but said that this idea has been ignored.
Labour Party spokesman on communications Tommy Broughan has blamed the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrat coalition for the ongoing decline in post office numbers — down from more than 1,700 in 2002 to fewer than 1,300.
“We have lost over a quarter of the total post office network since 2000. I have repeatedly requested that Minister [Noel] Dempsey prepare a national plan or policy for the post office network,” Mr Broughan said yesterday.
“Developing a postal strategy is absolutely critical in the context of the 2009 deadline for the full liberalisation of the postal market when An Post faces competition across all postal services.”
