Meeting with An Post boss sought over rural closures
HEAD of An Post Retail Debbie Byrne is being invited to Wexford County Hall to explain to councillors the reason behind the company’s move to close 11 post offices in rural Wexford.
In a motion Cllr Michael Whelan called for An Post to change its policy of closing post offices following the take up of redundancy by postmasters and postmistresses. He said their closure threatens the survival of the commercial and community life of the villages affected. ‘I don’t see anything in place from stopping An Post from reversing its decision to close post offices in the county.’
Cllr John Fleming said from New Ross to Bunclody there will be no post offices open.
Cllr Michael Sheehan suggested inviting Ms Byrne to the meeting, saying it is the retail department that is behind shutting down the post offices. Cllr Tony Dempsey said the heart of rural Wexford has been ‘torn asunder’ by the decision to offer redundancy to postmasters and postmistresses. ‘This at a time when the British Government is investing £800m to support rural post offices in the UK.’
Cllr Fionntáin Ó Suilleabháin said the services offered by small rural post offices needed to be expanded. ‘This should be a red line issue in budget negotiations,’ he added.
Cllr John Hegarty said the reason post offices are closing down across the county is because the people running them decided to take up a redundancy offer. He said rural post offices and shops only survive if people within the immediate locality support them. ‘It’s very difficult for rural shops to compete with Lidl, Aldi and Tesco where people want to go. We don’t want to look silly either when people are taking redundancies.’
Cllr Malcolm Byrne seconded the motion which was unanimously supported.