My postmaster husband applied for redundancy deal, reveals Freeman
PRESIDENTIAL hopeful Joan Freeman has revealed her husband is one of the postmasters in line for a windfall under the An Post retirement deal.
The senator and charity founder said her husband Pat, who runs the post office in Bluebell, Dublin, has applied for the exit package on offer.
Speaking to Wicklow County Council, Ms Freeman raised her husband’s plans while discussing her desire to begin a conversation about the well-being of older people as part of her presidency.
“My husband Pat is a postmaster and he is one of the post offices that will be closing down,” she said.
“But he’s not concerned about the closing down of the post office on a personal level; he is concerned about the person who stands in front of him every single week and, probably, he is the only person they’ve spoken to in a week,” she said.
After 35 years in the business he plans to step down from the post office which was once run by his parents, she said.
“They are putting new rules for postmasters and mistresses and there’s a penal system being introduced so if you forget to reset your alarm or something like that, you’re penalised. It’s just a very difficult and awkward way for the postmasters who have been at this for decades,” Ms Freeman toldthe Irish Independent.
“It’s a very different, and maybe people are saying a more professional, approach trying to market the post office in a different way, but for people who have been at this all their life, it’s difficult. “Change is always difficult.” Postmasters have been offered a redundancy deal which is worth six weeks’ pay for every year served, capped at 26 months’ pay. The deal has been estimated to be worth around €50,000.
It is not yet known if her husband has been approved for redundancy.
Ms Freeman noted “that’s very personal for him”, when asked.