AN POST KNOCKOUT BLOW!
North Sligo left reeling as plea from Maugherow community is ignored
THE community of Maugherow has been left stunned by the news that An Post has decided not to offer a postal services contract to their area – before reading over 700 submissions from the Save Maugherow Post Office action group last Thursday.
In an email to Councillor Thomas Healy on Monday, An Post said the Assessor had decided by 24 th September that An Posts’ decision was made in accordance with Protocol - five days before they received a submission from the Save Maugherow Post Office action group.
Cllr Healy is now calling for an investigation into the independent review. Orna McSweeney of Save Maugherow Post Office said she was “absolutely and utterly shocked beyond belief ” and supported Cllr Healy’s call.
Orna McSweeney of Save Maugherow Post Office said she was “absolutely and utterly shocked beyond belief ” at the fact that an independent assessor had made up their mind on the future of Ballinfull/Maugherow postal services by as early as Monday 24 th September.
“It’s hard to believe a semistate body are so incompetent and make a mess of everything,” she said last evening.
“The absurdity of it is beyond belief, to give a decision on the 24 th of September. Minister Naughten has even extended the deadline for making submissions to the Independent Review panel to the end of October.
“How do they get things so wrong, it’s just unreal. They had no right to decide before the deadline – this is the really bizarre thing about it.
“It wasn’t up to them to decide until they got the submission from the community. We decided to have ours in by the 28th September because we didn’t want any delay in having our postal services restored and then discovered that had made their decision on the 24 th!” she said.
She supported Cllr Healy’s call for an investigation into the review:“There has to be some sort of transparency on how they do business. This is so serious,” she said.
Sligo Leitrim Fianna Fáil Deputy Marc Mac Sharry who first revealed An Post/Government Plans to close Post Offices last July, condemned the Government’s ongoing indifference to An Post Closures of Post Offices nationwide.
“Varadkar’s vision for Ireland is clear - milk rural Ireland for every photo call its worth and then close it down. The appeals process was rigged to guarantee that the closure proceeds with a lopsided criteria based on spurious definitions of settlements.
Deputy MacSharry said the timing and design of this plan by An Post was “despicable.”
“It never came before Dáil Eireann and was effectively agreed to by a Semi-State body and a trade union neither of whom have any authority to represent the interests of communities.
“Subvention is required to ensure a viable wage for post masters and an enhanced role for post offices to offer a broader range of services to entice more use,” he said.