Fianna Fáil misleading rural Ireland on post offices

Fine Gael TD for Galway West, Sean Kyne, has today (Tuesday) criticised Fianna Fáil for misleading the people of rural Ireland on the matter of post offices and stated that the Government has a plan to secure the future of An Post.

“The Government has a comprehensive plan to protect the future of our postal network and Fianna Fáil really need to stop trying to whip up fear and panic on this issue in rural Ireland.

“I strongly object to the way Fianna Fáil have been misleading people on this matter for the past few months. A Parliamentary Question I submitted in the Dáil has shown that while twenty two post offices were closed between 2011- 2014, 288 post offices were closed down between 2005 – 2010, when Fianna Fáil were in power.

“In Galway, while one post office had to be closed in recent years, 16 post offices actually closed down during Fianna Fáil’s last term in office.

“Fianna Fáil’s attempts to conjure up fear and panic in rural Ireland on the matter of our postal service, masks the truth about the drastic action they took in closing down post offices in towns and villages across the country during their last term of Government. Fianna Fáil is also keen to ignore the financial realities for post offices in the wake of the economic crash over which they presided. Over the past 5 years mail volumes have fallen by almost 25%, no doubt as a result of the numbers of businesses that closed down during the crisis.

“Two thirds of our post offices are in rural areas and are the backbone of our communities. That’s why this Government wants to protect them and is actually looking to expand the services they provide to ensure their future strength. We set up a Cross Departmental Working Group on the matter which is chaired by the Taoiseach.

“ We support the concept of the local Post Office as the “front office of Government” providing services for people in their own local community.   An Post has introduced new business lines in the area of bill payment, passport applications, Garda fines, ‘postfone’ and foreign exchange. It also secured a deal to process local property tax payments.  It has also made positive progress in diversifying its network, through deals with AIB and Aviva Ireland. I feel confident that the future is bright for our postal service as a result.”