Why postmasters are our nation’s unsung heroes
IT WAS around this time nine years ago that Irish people first realised the crisis facing the banks and the economy of Ireland. It was thanks to a phone call to Liveline from a rural postmaster that we were alerted to the fact that thousands of people were withdrawing deposits from the banks and shifting it to their local post office, where their deposits were safer and insured.
The reaction to this revelation from the Government was incendiary. The previous Saturday – September 13, 2008 – the thenminister for finance Brian Lenihan, spoke on national radio declaring that ‘banks have been stress-tested by the regulator and they are sound’.
However, he also revealed that small savers with bank deposits would only be guaranteed €18,000 if the bank collapsed. Almost exactly a year previously many Irish depositors had lost money when the Northern Rock bank collapsed. People remember the frantic queues in Harcourt Street in the Dublin as customers tried to get their savings back.
The truth-telling by the postmaster was rubbished by the Government. The Department of Finance called it the ‘single most destructive broadcast ever!’ Newspapers ran headlines such as ‘Lenihan lash at Joe Duffy bank panic’.
They forgot to mention that within 48 hours of the call, the Government had reassured small savers by increasing their savings guarantee to €100,000.
But it proved beyond doubt that postmasters have their finger on the pulse of the nation. I was reminded again this week of the importance of our postal network and the 1,135 post offices in the country by two distressing events.
On the morning of Friday, May 12, a postwoman on her daily round came across a very distressing scene in a house near Killarney when she spotted a childminder being very aggressive with a baby. Thankfully she intervened, phoned the mother and the baby was saved from further harm. We underestimate at our peril the importance of our daily postal service.
We have all heard the distressing stories of old-age pensioners being scammed into transferring money to bogus bank accounts. Invariably, because money transfer systems are used, it is the local postmaster who often spots that the older person is distressed and acting out of character and stops the scam.
One postmaster told me this week that realising a woman was receiving money transfer instructions over the phone he showed her a written question: ‘Are you under duress?’ A brilliant intervention.
In a world where banks are increasingly afraid of human interaction, the post office is the last bastion of a living community .
An Post is rolling out new ideas and products by the cartload. The Government has a role in ensuring that more services are directed through the local post office. With 1.7 million customers, who are treated like friends, the post office network is in our DNA. We should do everything in our power to ensure its survival.
WRITE TO JOE AT: The Irish Mail on Sunday, Embassy House, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4