Tag: Republic of Ireland

Irish postal network faces collapse

Posted by | May 12, 2007 | |

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.

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

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An Post's next-day delivery rate falls to 72%

Posted by | May 11, 2007 | |

Just 72 per cent of the standard mail handled by An Post last year reached its destination by the following day, according to figures published yesterday by ComReg.

This represented a decline of one percentage point on 2005 and is well below the 94 per cent next-day delivery target agreed by the State group with the regulator. The statistics also showed that 97 per cent of all mail was delivered within three working days, below the 99.5 per cent target set by ComReg.

In addition, just 70 per cent of mail posted in Dublin for delivery around the State reached its destination the next working day. This was down three percentage points on 2005.

The only positive for An Post came from figures for the final quarter of last year, which included the busy Christmas season, when next-day delivery service levels were up three points on the previous year.

News of the performance drew a sharp response from consumer representatives. Ann Fitzgerald, executive chair of the National Consumer Association, said she viewed the “poor service with concern”. She said the agency was seeking a meeting with ComReg to discuss the issue.

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FF TRY POLITICS OF THE PLAYGROUND

Posted by | May 8, 2007 | |

FIANNA Fil has announced proposals aimed at developing community facilities.

Party bosses claimed the scheme, called Community Development Plan, would be provided with a dedicated fund of E150million.

Community and Rural Affairs Minister Eamon ” CuIv said: ‘Fianna Fil believes that all communities should have a guaranteed level of facilities including playgrounds, local markets, recycling, sports and other recreational facilities.

‘Through this new E150million fund, communities will be able to take facilities to an entirely new level and quality.’ The announcement comes, however, amid growing concerns at moves to close down post offices in towns and villages where they aren’t economically viable.

More than 400 sub-post offices have been shut down since the start of the decade and management at An Post is carrying out a review of the remaining 1,300 outlets.

Irish Postmasters’ Union general secretary John Kane said: ‘The IPU is calling on the incoming government, irrespective of its political makeup, to agree the principle that a public service obligation payment be put in place in order to ensure the survival of much of the existing post office network.’

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Call to keep unviable post offices open

Posted by | May 7, 2007 | |

Post offices which are economically unviable should be kept open because of the important social role they play, especially in rural Ireland, a conference was told at the weekend.

Irish Postmasters Union (IPU) general secretary John Kane told the union’s annual conference in Dublin that there was a “very justifiable case” for the provision of payments to post offices, through a public service obligation.
Giving public service obligation status to post offices of a certain size would allow the State to provide funding for them without breaching EU law.
More than 400 sub-post offices have closed since the start of the decade and a review of the remaining network of 1,300 outlets is being carried out by An Post.

“Even the simple opportunity of being able to talk to another human being at the local post office, the local shop or the GAA club may make all the difference as to how a person copes with a crisis in their lives,” Mr Kane said.

“The IPU is calling on the incoming government, irrespective of its political make-up, to agree the principle that a public service obligation payment be put in place in order to ensure the survival of much of the existing post office network.”

Mr Kane said the Government was responsible for 70 per cent of post office business and any incoming government needed to make a “principled decision” to support the network.

He told conference delegates that postmasters needed certainty as to what services they would provide in the future and An Post needed to show “a lot more realism” as to the costs involved in running a post office.

According to the IPU, some of its members are earning as little as euro 8,000 a year.

It says the average yearly income for sub-post office owners is euro 16,000.
The conference at Moran’s Red Cow Hotel in Dublin was also told that the loss of the social welfare contract, worth in excess of euro 50 million annually to An Post, would have serious repercussions for the whole network.

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Fortis, AN Post joint venture to extend to over 1,000 post offices in next 12 months

Posted by | May 3, 2007 | |

Belgo-Dutch bancassurance group Fortis NV said its 50-50 Irish financial services joint venture with AN Post, the Irish Post Office, will extend to over 1,000 post offices in the next twelve months.

Postbank started trading at over 250 post offices on May 1.

Fortis said it will have the largest retail banking network in Ireland by the end of next year.

Postbank offers a broad range of financial products and services to the Irish market, including daily banking, savings products, insurance, mortgages and credit cards.

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