‘PROGRESS IS CLOSING DOWN RURAL IRELAND’
NEW WAVE OF POST OFFICE CLOSURES HIT HOME
DUHALLOW has been hit by another post office closure, as a fourth generation postmaster, Henry Keogh of Rockchapel, said he will retire at the end of the month as a contractor for An Post.
In addition to Rockchapel PO closing, the post offices in Newtwopothouse and Shanballymore are also closing.
“There will not be a post office in Rockchapel unless there is a dramatic increase in population and the population of this area is only about 100 people,” said Henry Keogh this week. “Really, the bottom line is this: people can go around blaming the Government and blaming everyone, but if people do not use their post office then it will close and that is the truth and that is the fact of it.”
He said there is “something ironic that progress is closing down rural Ireland”. Meanwhile, in Kiskeam, postmaster John Paddy Joe Murphy (86) has no intention of closing despite his 58 years on the job.
IT is “with a heavy heart” that a fourth generation postmster in Rockchapel will close his doors at the end of the month after 37 years serving the community.
Henry Keogh told The Corkman that he is “retiring” as a contractor for An Post. “There will not be a post office in Rockchapel unless there is a dramatic increase in population and the population of this area is only about 100 people. And, really, the bottom line is this: people can go around blaming the Government and blaming everyone but if people do not use their post office then it will close and that is the truth and that is the fact of it,” he said.
Mr Keogh said that not only are people not using their post offices in rural regions they are also not using them in larger towns and cities. “There is something ironic that progress is closing down rural Ireland. If people wanted their post office to be kept open, then they would use it. By using a post office keeps it open,” he said.
Postmasters are given a contract to provide a service to the public by An Post and, in turn, postmasters are bound by the rules and regulations of An Post. A Postmaster provides the premises, pays the rates, insurance and has the security and all that goes with running a Post Office.
But Postmasters are paid on the work which they do – such as how many stamps are sold, social welfare payments executed, pensions given out – all their work is totted up by An Post and pay is then calculated on that. So, the term ‘use it or lose it’ has never been more precise when talking about the viability of rural post offices.
For example with Bill Pay, if 100 people went into a post office and paid a bill then the post master gets three cent per transaction for doing that work – that means €3 pay. Previously, Mr Keogh said that the centralisation of the sorting office to Boherbue had a huge knock on effect on Postmasters’ pay. Prior to centralisation, postmasters were paid to supervise the mail at their own premises but with that task now centralised it led to a further slash on postmasters’ pay.
In an interview in 2016, Mr Keogh said: “This is a fact which people may not know, but 20% of postmasters are earning less than the minimum wage. When a postmaster factors in insurance and rates and all that goes with it, the money left over is less than €10 per hour. You can see why some postmasters won’t be able to continue on as it’s simply not viable.”
Meanwhile, after nearly 100 years in operation, the post office at Newtwopothouse will also close its doors.
It is operated by Ted and Catherine Palmer who declined to comment. Ted’s mother ran the post office for 35 years before Ted took over the reins. Prior to that, Margaret Murphy from Banteer ran it during the 1940s, and there has been a post office in the area since the 1920s.
It will mean that at the end of this month a post office which has been serving Newtwopothouse will close its doors after a century in existence.