Gurteen considers its next move on PO
ANOTHER packed public meeting in Gurteen on Sunday night heard the local community is not giving up its fight to save the local post office.
An Post is sticking by its decision to close the post office but the local community says it has the population and footfall to keep it open. There was lots of anger at the decision at the meeting with An Post accused of ignoring its 500 population guidelines on keeping post offices open.
Over 500 people attended a protest in Gurteen on Sunday as the community continues its fight to save the local Post Office.
Gurteen Post Office is due to close on February 28th following three deadline extensions by An Post.
“There was a lot of anger, it was difficult for the committee to keep a lid on it,” explained committee member and business owner Damien Tansey.
Though the community are continuing their fight the keep the services open, Mr Tansey told The Sligo Champion that in the event of it being closed it is ‘more about saving the village than saving the Post Office’.
“We highlighted the number of services we have still available. In my own Centra store we have a number of the same services as the Post Office that we didn’t advertise because it was being done very well in the Post Office and what was the point in going after that business.”
Locals are accusing An Post of going against their own vialbility guidelines which outline that no Post Office with a population of 500 people in that area will close.
In efforts to prove numbers to An Post the Gurteen committee provided the organisation with postal codes for 62 people outside the 15 kilometre.
“Though they’re not in the Gurteen community they have Gurteen addresses,” explained Mr Tansey, who, like others see Gurteen Post Office as a successful branch.
“In a response to questions by The Sligo Champion in relation to not adhering to their own viability guidelines, spokesperson for An Post, Angus Laverty said,:
“An Post’s commitment was no settlement of more than 500 people would be left without a post office and we used the 2016 census to establish population figures.”
In relation to following protocol, the An Post spokesperson said, “The matter was assessed by an Independent Reviewer who found that An Post had acted in accordance with the published Protocol.”
Mr Tansey said this review was not independent and instead done by An Post employees and has ‘already been discredited’
The supermarket owner referenced the community’s own census.
“We numbered each house, outlined how many adults and children, it was very easy to cross check that. The CSO map doesn’t tally with the community.”
Following a six-month sustained campaign for the Post Office’s survival and three deadline extensions granted, the Gurteen people are running out of time and options in order to save the services.
The closure of the Post Office, which according to locals, has weekly transactions of 1,500, will see the nearest office be located 12 kilometres away in Ballymote.
Looking at other options in light of the imminent closure, Mr Tansey said he is aware that An Post can provide a service where pensions and social welfare can be paid out through a postal agent.
“I saw it in Mayo where a shop can dispense the pensions and social welfare, that would be a huge benefit. It would be the least An Post could do for us.”
Asked about the engagement of An Post with the community, the business owner described it as ‘absolutely impossible’.
Mr Tansey said he wanted to query an interview given by David McRedmond, CEO of An Post where he was quoted saying, “We’ ll make sure people will have a Post Office where they do their weekly grocery shopping”.
To this, Mr Tansey said, “I have hundreds of people that do their weekly shopping with us, I wouldn’t be able to survive without it.”
He also referred to McRedmond’s comments that referenced ‘protocol’ where communities outline their need for a Post Office.
“I don’t know what else we’ve been saying for the last five months, we’ve been saying ‘ hold on, there’s more of us and we need it’ and it seems to be complete lip service, they’re completely ignoring us.”
Asked where to next ahead of the closure on Tursday, February 28th, Tansey said the least the Post Office can do is provide Tansey’s Centra or some other premises with a postal agency.
“It cannot be done without An Post providing the software and equipment. I’d be willing to do it and I’m sure other businesses would as well.”
Tansey added that in addition to these services, An Post could provide a business with postal letters, registered mail and parcel services which is done in other sites nationally.
“That would be at virtually no cost to themselves because they don’t have a post master or a contract. All that expense would fall on the business. But we cannot let those people out of the village. We don’t just serve 512 people, we serve 4,500.”
Speaking following Sunday’s meeting, Fine Gael councillor Sinead Maguire said it was apparent that there was ‘ huge community spirit’ in Gurteen.
Cllr Maguire said she believed the community had been treated ‘unfairly’ by An Post and not provided with information which they should have been given which was pivotal to the closure decision.
“They’re disappointed that despite their best efforts and assurances it is ultimately going to close.”