The north Sligo community of Maugherow is making a final all-out effort to keep the post office service that has existed at the heart of the area for almost 120 years.
About 60 people turned out to a public meeting in the local hall last night, calling for An Post to rescind its decision to close the local Ballinfull post office.
The people of Maugherow now want An Post to put the local service out to tender, adding that they have the perfect location for it in the nearby Dunleavy’s shop.
Those present at last night’s meeting heard an outline of a draft submission that the local community will be making to an independent reviewer in an effort to persuade An Post to continue post office services on the Maugherow peninsula.
It was, those present at the meeting heard, the last chance for the community to put its best foot forward in its effort to retain its post office service.
The deadline for making that submission is the 28th of this month.
But the people of Maugherow are insistent there is the demand locally for the service.
Local resident Noel Darcy says the population there is increasing and more local businesses are setting up:
MC for last night’s meeting Orna McSweeney contrasted how the government is treating community post offices with the rush years ago to bail out the banks.
Noel Darcy outlines where the community goes from here with its campaign:
In the meantime, speakers at last night meeting highlighted the need to raise the profile of the campaign.
Among the suggestions were a legal challenge to An Post’s definition of a ‘settlement’ necessary to maintain a post office.
It was also suggested that people might put masking tape over their post boxes, with some people saying if An Post does not provide a service, why should they spend money on mail boxes.
The community is also planning some novel events to draw attention to its campaign, one of which Orna McSweeney outlined.
