People power behind saving Ballydesmond PO

AN Post granted the green light to businessman Seamus Kearney who took over the running of the post office in his shop in Ballydesmond.

In tandem with this, Postmistress Ann Vaughan, whose family have run the village post office for the past 85 years, called it a day.

Seamus Kearney of Kearney’s Centra took up the mantle. He said he was delighted to receive the call from An Post that his tender was accepted.

“It is great that the village has secured the future of a post office and that a post office will be kept. It’s vital for the community,” he said.

Mr Kearney’s staff underwent two weeks’ training. Mr Kearney installed a new counter which is wheelchair accessible, along with other provisions which An Post has specified.

The community put up a determined fight to keep a post office in their village, and while An Post initially opted to not go down the tender route, after a public consultation with the community, they changed their minds.

While the people of Ballydesmond have secured a post office for their parish, the same may not follow for other villages. Nationally, An Post has 1,130 post offices, but many in rural areas are running at a loss. It was stated that there is 1,135 post offices across the country with about 1.7 million customers every week. But sway backwards to 1992 and there were 1,902 post offices.

While Cllr Gerard Murphy (FG) greatly welcomed the decision that Ballydesmond will retain a Post Office which he described as “vital” for the community, he was quite scathing at the business model which An Post has rolled out over the last number of years.

Cllr Murphy and his wife, Marian, operate a post office in Newmarket and it was his firm view that all post offices are not being properly utilised. “The reality is that many of the smaller post offices are now trying to survive on €10,000 per year. Post Offices can be saved but only if the Government and all State agencies work together and maximise the usage of all post offices. There are lots of things which could be done at a post office such as having a full banking service,” he said.

Cllr Murphy said that An Post has also centralised sorting offices “throughout the country”, which in turn has meant a massive dip in wages for postmasters and postmistresses, which in turn is greatly leading to their demise. Retirements and family not taking up the mantle is also having a huge knock-on effect. This is also certainly down to the new An Post contracts coupled with the massive dip in wages, which makes it very unattractive for anyone to seek out a contract. “The centralisation of sorting offices was all done without a thorough cost analysis being undertaken. By centralising the sorting offices it has absolutely served no one. Post Offices are being made unprofitable by the business model which is being put in place by An Post in the first place,” he said.