Closure of rural post offices 'pulling heart out of Mayo parishes'

An elected member of Mayo County Council has issued a strong appeal to the government and An Post management to halt any plans that would see further post office closures in rural towns, warning that communities “cannot and will not survive without a functioning post office at their centre.”

Independent Councillor Patsy O’Brien said he is “deeply alarmed” by reports that An Post is offering large redundancy packages to encourage the closure of smaller and mid-sized branches.

He called the approach “socially reckless” and “a betrayal of rural Ireland by a company owned by the Irish people."

Councillor O'Brien elaborated: “An Post is wholly owned by the State. It has a turnover in excess of €1 billion, it is profitable, and its parcel business is booming,” he said.

“Yet instead of strengthening services for the public who built that business, it is attempting to dismantle the very network that holds rural Ireland together.”

He pointed out that An Post’s own 2024 financial results show revenue of €1.021 billion, parcel growth of 12.6%, financial services up 6%, retail income up 3.8%, and a pre-exceptional profit of €10.1 million — a 12% increase on the previous year.

“These are not the figures of a struggling company,” he said.

“These are the figures of a thriving State enterprise with the capacity and the duty to maintain its services for every community, not just the larger urban centres.”

Councillor O’Brien said proposals to reduce services or close branches in key towns contradict An Post’s public claims that it is committed to maintaining a post office in every community of 500 people or more.

“Ballyhaunis is a growing, diverse, busy rural town that draws people in from miles around. It is exactly the type of place where a post office services must be protected. Anything less is an admission that rural Ireland is expendable.”

He warned that closing postal services triggers a domino effect on local economies.

“Anyone who stands on Main Street in any Irish town on a Friday can see the value of the post office.

"The town is buzzing because pensioners and families are out collecting payments, paying bills, posting parcels and calling into local shops."

According to Councillor O’Brien, An Post seems to be using concerns about declining letter volumes to justify what he called “a strategic retreat from rural Ireland."

While acknowledging that mail volumes have fallen, he said this should not be used as an excuse for cutting essential services when parcel revenue — now the core engine of the business — is growing at double-digit levels.

“Rural towns built the postal network long before parcel vans and e-commerce existed,” he said.

“Now that the company has found new and lucrative revenue streams, it cannot abandon the same communities that stood by it.

"A post office is not just a business unit. It is a public service. It is an integral part of the social fabric of the community.

"Only this week we had the voice of the GAA President outlining the impact the attacks on rural Ireland, has on that organisation.

"The essence of community, which defined Ireland, is being attacked on all sides. An Post is an arm of the state and as such cannot renege on its moral responsibility to enhance community life.”

Councillor O’Brien said he fully recognises the global pressures facing postal services, but insists that the Irish State must set a higher standard.

“Across Europe we see governments cutting back postal services. But Ireland is not compelled to follow that path.

"We have a profitable, expanding postal company with over €600 million in equity on its balance sheet, 889 post offices nationwide, and more than 941,000 customer visits every week. There is no justification for pulling services away from towns like Ballyhaunis.”

He said the government must intervene immediately to protect the network.

“If An Post requires additional working capital to support its parcel growth, then government must examine raising the outdated borrowing cap — unchanged for 40 years,” he said.

“But closures must not be the price rural Ireland pays.

"I will not stand by while essential infrastructure is stripped away.

“This will not be allowed to happen quietly.

"Communities will fight it, local representatives will fight it, and I will fight it. I am calling on the Minister to make it absolutely clear that no post office in any rural Mayo town will close.

"We need investment, not withdrawal. If we allow these closures, we are signing off on the slow erosion of rural Ireland. That is something I will never accept,” he added.

A statement by An Post has strongly rejected Councillor O'Brien's statement.

It outlined: "There is no threat to the post office in Ballyhaunis.

"Indeed, claims made that there is such a threat are deeply damaging to that very business.

"What is happening is that An Post’s mails operations in the town are being brought together at a shared campus in Castlerea.

"There is no connection between the two arms of An Post’s business with the company’s mail staff operating separately to the local post office.

"An Post also rejects the councillor’s contention that the company was actively reducing its network of small and medium sized post offices.

"Saying nothing could be further from the truth, with An Post working hard to maintain its network of more than 880 post office in communities across the country.

"This planned move of the An Post delivery office in the town, not scheduled to happen until the second quarter of next year, represents sound planning for the future in terms of local infrastructure around this part of Mayo and Roscommon.

"The move mirrors similar developments across the country where we have been consolidating our mails operations to reflect changes in our business and customer needs.

"An Post will amalgamate our mails operations in Ballyhaunis and Castlerea as part of An Post’s ongoing investment in and planning for the future of the mail’s infrastructure in the region.

"In all, forty-seven (47) staff, twelve from Ballyhaunis and thirty-five from Castlerea will jointly work from An Post’s current delivery office in the Castlerea Business Park.

"It is likely that the staff compliment at the newly unified base will increase because of the merger.

"Far from being “a strategic retreat from rural Ireland,” as claimed by the councillor, An Post is working hard to transform its business to keep pace with the changing landscape, keeping post offices open and thriving and also planning for the future to support our customers and SMEs."