An Post strongly refutes Mayo councillor's claims over threat to rural postal services
An Post has strongly refuted claims made by Mayo Independent Councillor Patsy O'Brien in regard to the feared closure of postal services in rural communities.
A statement issued to The Connaught Telegraph by An Post 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.
"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 of Ballyhaunis, 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, 47 staff, 12 from Ballyhaunis and 35 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."