A bleak future for the remaining rural post offices across Westmeath looms large again this week with An Post likely to consider large scale closures. It follows a report for the Government on the future of post offices, recommending the closure of 80 post offices, mainly in rural areas, with An Post suffering losses of €12m annually.
The report has still to be acted on and no post offices likely to be closed have been named so far, but with 20 rural post offices in Westmeath still surviving, and with Clonmellon’s PO threatened with closure already this year, many other areas fear losing post offices. At present Westmeath has a total of 20 Post Offices in rural areas, plus the Mullingar PO and a second at Austin Friars Street, in Mullingar, and three in Athlone (at Barrack Street, Town Centre and Baylough).
Deputy Robert Troy (FF) whose family have operated the Ballynacargy Post Office for decades, said this week that in one midlands village, when the PO closed two and a half years ago, all the shops since closed, and the school is now without a teacher.
“The future of Post Offices raises issues, but we can do more to help them, instead of having people being advised to collect their Social Welfare through direct debit from banks,” he said. “The will must be there to find a way.”
Deputy Troy said the closure of the local post office was followed by the loss of local shops and now the heart has been stripped from that village. Lack of local support was a big factor.
Local Labour TD Willie Penrose, the party’s Rural Affairs Spokesperson, didn’t disagree, suggesting many branches are under threat because locals simply do not use them and says “protesting now over any likely closures is hypocritical”. Deputy Penrose owns a local shop in Ballynacargy and has seen at first hand the challenges rural businesses face.
“CROCODILE TEARS TYPE MARCHES”
“It’s no use everyone engaging in crocodile tears-type marches. The reason that a lot of those post offices are in trouble is because local people just don’t use them. Maybe there is a decline in the population in some areas and some of them may well have to close, but in a lot of cases people just pass by the local post office, and the local rural shop, pass by everything that’s local and go to the large towns themselves,” said Deputy Penrose.
“It’s hypocritical for people to be getting up on their high horses when something happens which they themselves have directly or indirectly contributed to by actually not using those places and not utilising the services,” he added.
Deputy Robert Troy, postmaster in Ballynacargy, said it’s vital that people continue to support the local service and reiterated his view that social welfare payments remain part of An Post. At present, the post offices are going by “stealth” closed when people opt out or die.
WESTMEATH SURVIVORS
The surviving rural post offices in Westmeath include Ballinahown, Ballinalack, Ballymore, Ballynacargy, Castlepollard, Castletown Geoghegan, CLonmellon, Collinstown, Coole, Delvin Glasson, Kilbeggan, `Killucan, Kinnegad, Moate, Rathowen, Rochfortbridge, Streamstown, Tyrrellspass, and Raharney.
The town offices are Mullingar GPO, Dominick St., Austin Friars Street, Athlone Town Centre, Athlone Barrack Street and Baylough PO.
The An Post plan, devised by businessman Bobby Kerr, is aimed at stemming losses of up to €12m a year from the branch network. But it takes no account of the social effects.
An Post has 1,130 post offices nationally, but many of the smaller ones are loss-making, as more people receiving State pensions and child benefit are choosing to have payments made directly into their bank accounts.
A spokeswoman for An Post said it was conducting an in-depth review of the post office network.
“This is not a short-term focus, but a solidly based long-term business that can thrive in the modern market and anticipate the future needs of our corporate and personal customers,” she remarked.
The Irish Postmasters’ Union confirmed that the Kerr report recommends an estimated 80 post office closures in the coming four years. It called for urgent Government sanction for additional services to be provided in post offices, particularly motor tax. And it wants an exit package for affected postmasters.
BANK CLOSURES
COMING
In what is yet another blow for rural areas, it is also reported that Ulster Bank is planning to shut down up to 30 branches. A spokeswoman for the bank said: “Ulster Bank has not announced any branch closures, but we keep this under review.”
