New fears for future of rural post offices



There’s growing concern that more post offices in the north west will have to close because of social welfare payments now being paid every fortnight rather than every week.

Post offices are paid by the number of transactions.

But the reduction in frequency of welfare payments, together with online lodgements into accounts, means revenue for post offices from this source has now been slashed.

In the past, post offices have closed throughout Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal, often despite lengthy and spirited local campaigns to keep them open.

But the fear over more closures hasn’t gone away.

In some cases in the past, post offices closed after post masters or post mistresses retired.

In just a few cases, post offices moved to new premises, an example being Riverstown in County Sligo.

Now, there’s a renewed concern because of a reduction in the frequency of welfare payments since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

A Grant Thornton’s report into post offices finances has found there’ll be an average annual loss of about 19-thousand euro per outlet from next year.

Irish Post Masters Union General Secretary Ned O’Hara says they have eight months left at the very maximum to deal with this situation

The concern over the future of rural post offices has been raised repeatedly by national politicians and local councillors, among them Leitrim Councillor Mary Bohan, who runs the post office in Drumkeeran.

Now, a Sligo Councillor, Marie Casserly, is calling on the Department of Social Welfare to give people the option of weekly payments again, as was the case before the Covid-19 pandemic.

She says when people are visiting post offices less frequently, it has a knock-on affect on the local economy.

Meanwhile, Ned O Hara, of the Postmasters’ Union, has a stark warning: If the state doesn’t step in to help, many more outlets will have to shut their doors.



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