Pleas not to close Gurteen P.O.
Dear Editor,
I have written a letter to Communications Minister Denis Naughten TD regarding Gurteen Post Office which I attach;
I am writing as a resident of Gurteen to request that you make a commitment to the people of Gurteen that the Post Office will be retained in the village. Gurteen Post Office has been included in a list of 160 approx. POs that are due to be closed. This decision must be reversed. I extend an invitation to you to visit the vibrant village that is Gurteen. In this way you will see for yourself the various facilities it possesses, the business’ that operate there, the services available there, in short the reasons why so many people have chosen to live there.
At the outset, it is useful, indeed necessary to set out what we mean by “Gurteen”. In coming up with a population of 392, (against a cut off point of 500) An Post have defined the population as living within 500mtrs of the Post Office. So a person living 550 mtrs from Gurteen Post Office is defined as being a customer of Ballymote Post Office, over 12km away. By any reasonable standard this is erroneous. My family and I (4 in total) live just outside the village, less than 100 yrds from the 50km speed limt sign. be taken when defining the number of persons likely to rely on the service. So perhaps a 3km radius or a 6 km radius from the centre of the village is a more accurate measure. With a 6 km radius of Gurteen, half the distance to the next nearest Post Office, there is a population in excess of 2,500. Gurteen Celtic Soccer Club
Eastern Harps GAA Club
Gurteen Tidy Towns Gurteen Ladies Group Carn NS Gurteen Health Centre Pharmacy
Busy Bees Creche All of the above, and more, businesses & entities operate in and around Gurteen, and there is an interdependence linking them to each other and to the Post Office. They offer goods, services and cater for various needs of the people of Gurteen. Many of them have received state aid in developing their facilities. As in all areas the clubs and societies rely on volunteers who give their time for the good of others as they try to develop those clubs and societies and build stronger ties with the local people and especially the young people as they grow up. They give these young people an identity and hopefully those young people will find employment and in many cases will decide to settle in the area and so the cycle continues. But the post office is not just a service in the strict sense of stamps, bill payments, benefit payments etc. The post office is a meeting place, a place where locals can have a chat and a gossip and discuss issues of the day, it is a social hub. This was acknowledged in the final report of Post Office Network Business Development Group. It says “evidence from studies conducted in other countries suggest that they (Post Offices) perform a vital role in the community, particularly in rural areas where other retail services and opportunities for social interaction may be limited”
Why not expand and market the services has to offer? Perhaps there are services the Post Office offer that people are not aware of. There is no bank in Gurteen. The post office has an arrangement with AIB whereby AIB account holders can lodge money to their accounts at the Post Office. Can this service be better communicated, maybe expanded to include other banks. What about a marketing campaign for An Posts Smart Current Account targeted at the local schools? Incentivise the young to open a current account and build a new customer base in this way.
Minister, this is not a matter of affordability, this is a matter of political priority.
With regard to Post Office closure, the priorities of Government need to be adjusted.
So, please Minister Naughton consider my invitation, consider the anomaly with regard to the calculation of the population of Gurteen, and seriously consider making a commitment to the people to retain the Post Office service in the village of Gurteen.
Yours Sincerely, Dan McKeon, Lisbaleely, Gurteen.