Irish postal network faces collapse

Rural leaders were warned yesterday that the post office network could collapse if there is a further fall in the volume of social welfare payments they transact.

Pat McCann of the Irish Postmasters Union told the Irish Rural Link conference in Cavan that social welfare transactions represent the single biggest customer for these post offices.

But, he said, the Department of Social and Family Affairs is pursuing an agenda that will see more and more social welfare recipients having to access their payments at a bank rather than at the post office.

“The prospect for many offices is not good but it is salvageable if the public use its influence with those in power and encourage their local communities to use the post office regularly,” he said.

Mr McCann, a postmaster at Fairymount in Co Roscommon, said there is a mistaken belief that the postmaster or postmistress is a paid official of An Post.

The reality is that they get paid solely on the basis of every transaction conducted in the post office. The less customers, the less income they have. Yet, all the overheads remain the same.

“Therefore, it is vitally important for the local community to appreciate that if they fail to use their post office regularly, it will inevitably close, let alone make a living,” he said.

According to the Irish Postmasters Union the earnings of some of its members are as low as €8,000 per year, with an average yearly income of €16,000, working an average 50-hour week.

Postal service: the facts

Number of smaller post offices — 1,300.
Post offices closed since 2002 — 400.
Number of post offices under threat — 400.
Average yearly income of Irish Postmasters Union members (50-hour week) — euro 16,000.