Threat to the Post Office was ‘disgraceful’
THE decision by An Post to close the post office in Ballinfull has been condemned by Sinn Féin Cllr Thomas Healy as “shameful and hypocritical”.
“I want to welcome the awarding of a new contract for the Cliffoney Post Office,” he said.
“However the closure of the Ballinfull branch points out the future closure of multiple post offices throughout Ireland. The Cliffoney case was simply an issue of a new contract however in Ballinfull the postmistress was retiring and the policy by An Post is to allow the service to retire along with the person.
“Obviously if they do not replace any retirees then, over time, the post office network will continue to dwindle.
“This is a semi state company, not a private one, the government is obliged to speak up for the people it represents but it seems nobody is thinking of the people who rely on their local Post Office,” he said.
“This was a disgraceful episode, not enough notice was given to the community and then they closed the service before the An Post review was even complete!
“Minister Naughton is hypocritical and disingenuous in stating that they are looking for new business plans and locations for threatened post offices. In fact the protocols are only for retailers seeking alternative services such as post point and not a real post office. The government could at least be honest with people.
“We will be continuing to defend rural Ireland,” continued Cllr Healy, “because we have no other choice, we live here and we want our children to be able to live here as well.
“We need to bring all these communities together and state loud and clear that we demand the government look beyond the cities and governs for all of its people,” he added.
Meanwhile Cllr Declan Bree has welcomed the decision by An Post to retain the post office in Cliffoney.
“I very much welcome the decision as in my opinion there was no justification for attempting to close down the post office.
“What is extremely worrying is the fact that the Independent Review Committee having considered the case actually supported the original decision of the An Post management to close down the service in Cliffoney. This does not augur well for the other rural post offices under threat of closure.
“The people of Cliffoney are to be congratulated on the stance they took. They refused to be browbeaten and they made it clear that they would not accept the closure decision. The postmistress Susan Finan certainly outlined all the positive reasons for the post office to remain open and we have every reason to be pleased with the outcome,” said Cllr Bree.