Vincent Harney of Cornafulla Post Office in south Roscommon

Emergency meeting on future of post offices

Postmasters are holding an emergency meeting tomorrow to decide on a course of action to secure the future of the Post Office Network.

Members of the Irish Postmasters’ Union (IPU) say there is no apparent commitment by the Government to use the Post Office Network.

Promises to deliver Government Services which the Network can provide such as Motor Tax, at a saving to Government in excess of €60 million, have not progressed.

This compounds the removal of Department of Social Protection cheque payments from the Post Office Network earlier this year and the insistence by some Government Departments that payments due to them, by members of the public, are made by banker’s drafts rather than using Post Office services.

IPU Executive member and Midlands spokesperson Vincent Harney – of Cornafulla Post Office in south Roscommon - said the Union had been involved in the Bobby Kerr Chaired Post Office Network Renewal Working Group, which also includes Government and An Post, since early this year.

This group was mandated to report by mid-summer with a blueprint – including policy, services and investment commitments – for the future of post offices.

However, postmasters are now highly dissatisfied with the progress being made and remain to be convinced that the process will provide the level of response required.

The IPU’s Executive and branch officers will gather at Dublin’s Ashling Hotel tomorrow, Saturday, to consider what course postmasters will take.

The IPU represents in excess of 1,000 postmasters across Ireland who operate the vast majority of Ireland’s 1,100 post offices.