Republican News · Thursday 18 October 2001

Campaign to save rural post offices

"Government representatives should listen to what Postmasters and others are saying concerning the very survival of the rural post office," says Sinn Féin's Mayo candidate Vincent Wood. He was speaking after a meeting organised in Killala as part .

"This is not a new debate. People have been calling for support and an increase in the services rural post offices can provide, including banking services, for many years," said Wood. "This makes the announcement of a forum, coming as it does in the run up to an election, all the more cynical.

"On reading the report of the Post Office Working Group set up by Minister Mary O'Rourke, the key observations are that An Post predicts that it will incur losses of £ 27m per year by 2004 if the situation remains the same. The report acknowledges that these losses come from the larger post offices and company owned offices and not from the small post office sector. The report also makes it clear that An Post has been profitable in the recent past.

"Unfortunately, we have a government which is dominated by the Mary Harney/Charlie McCreevy wing, who want to see a totally deregulated and privatised free for all, where profitability is the driving force. There is no consideration for the social function that the rural post office plays in our communities.

"The government also has a bad record of standing up to the EU. Its competition rules are having a negative impact on potential government support. If the government opt to support An Post from the exchequer as recommended by the report prepared by ICTU leader Phil Flynn, they will have to ask for State Aid Clearance for the European Commission.

"Postmasters have lobbied government hard for additional services to ensure their long-term survival. Their demands are reasonable and should be supported by everybody genuinely interested in keeping rural Ireland together.

"In the short term, the exchequer should pick up the £27 million per year tab and then go to the banking sector to negotiate the replacement of withdrawn bank facilities with services that could be delivered through the Post Office network. With additional services, such as Social Welfare payments, we can at least create the environment where the rural post office network can survive."