The future of up to 15,000 small post offices may be known tomorrow, when the Attorney General briefs the Cabinet on EU policy regarding contracts. Under an EU directive, An Post may lose the lucrative contract to provide Social Welfare services, worth £36 million a year.
In a separate development, the Minister for Public Enterprise has said she will not accept the closure of any more rural post offices. However, the Chief Executive of An Post, John Hynes, said the company will make losses this year, of £3 million, unless hundreds of post offices are down-graded.
The future of more than nine hundred rural post offices is being discussed at a meeting called by the Minister for Public Enterprise. ICMSA President Frank Allen has said that services provided by rural Post Offices are a vitally important part of rural life. He said rural Post Offices must be upgraded by the use of the new information technology. And, in a statement this evening, Macra na Feirme said that the Government must show its commitment to rural Ireland by resisting the closure of rural post offices and subsidising those most at risk.
