Tag: Republic of Ireland

The survival of the country’s remaining sub-post offices could be reliant on them continuing to process social welfare payments, according to the president of the Irish Postmasters’ Union (IPU). Speaking at the IPU annual conference yesterday, Joe McArdle, a postmaster in Co Louth, said “the actions of the Government in encouraging more and more social welfare claimants to divert their payments into bank accounts through electronic fund transfers is threatening the future viability of the post office network”. He welcomed an An Post agreement to process Garda fines, and said the possible creation of a new banking operation with Belgian bank Fortis “has the potential to be a major shot in the arm for the post office network”.

Nearly 1,300 sub-postmasters trying to secure a 50pc rise in fee-income have been warned that some offices will have to face closure and severance payments.
The Irish Postmasters’ Union (IPU) conference in Dundalk was told that claims for increases of up to 26m are being considered by an independent assessor appointed by Communications Minister Noel Dempsey. A former senior executive at An Post, Eamon Ryan is expected to issue his findings within three months. At present An Post pays 52m to its sub-postmasters, 18m of which is part of a transfer it receives from the Department of Social Welfare. Mr Dempsey told 120 delegates he remained optimistic for the future of An Post and it has “somewhat stabilised its cost base in the past year”, reporting an 16m operating profit for 2005.

An Post is to seek a further 1,100 voluntary redundancies and early retirements.
The company has earmarked 40m for the payoffs. It has 9,343 full-time and casual staff. Should the offer be taken up and the full amount of 40m is paid out the average payout would come to over 36,000. An Post chief Donal Curtin said some 1,200 workers had taken up the company’s early redundancy or severance packages over the past three years. He added that a further 1,100 have confirmed their applications to leave the company over the next 24 months.
The changes agreed with the Communications Workers Union (CWU) will ultimately see a 20pc reduction in staff levels.