LATEST: No guarantee Tipperary Post Office 'going to remain in its current location'

Tipperary TD Martin Browne has raised the issue of the proposed change to Tipperary Post Office in the Dáil.

On Wednesday January 31, Browne put a number of questions to Minister of State, Niall Collins on the matter, saying that he was shocked and so was the town of Tipperary to the news from An Post of the change of Tipperary post office to a contractor-run post office.

"I am opposed to this move and so are most of the people of Tipperary town for a number of reasons that I will outline. The first issue is the location of the post office.

"Its current location is more or less the centre of the town. I want to thank Mr. Angus Laverty of An Post for being forthcoming with us but the trouble is he could not give us a guarantee that the post office was going to remain in its current location. After six months there is a possibility that the post office will be moved.

"It is a huge concern locally that the post office will be moved as in the past fortnight a number of small businesses have closed in Tipperary town because of a lack of footfall.

"The town centre has also lost the court services, which is another issue that I want to raise. The book is not closed on this matter as far as we are concerned.

"The town has a huge level of deprivation. Indeed, that led to the establishment of a task force on social inclusion whose research found that one in every three households in Tipperary town does not own a car so there are significant implications for access to services.

"This is the highest figure recorded out of all the settlement areas in County Tipperary. Coupled with that is the high rate of people over the age of 65.

"We all know that this cohort of people uses post offices more than anybody else. That indicates to us, for that cohort of people, that all services must be kept as close to the centre of town as possible.

"If An Post's plans do go ahead, it is vital that the post office service is located in the centre of town because it will bring additional footfall to the surrounding local businesses.

"I hope we do not see any more businesses close down. Tipperary has suffered due to a lack of a bypass, which is an issue that has dragged on for more than 40 years.

"Promises were made by different Governments down through years. Myself and others cannot understand if a revitalisation task force was set up to try and improve Tipperary town that another part of the Government is taking services away, or threatening to take services away.

"I put this to An Post and was told that this was just part of the ongoing conversion programme and it appears suitable for a town to have such a change thrust upon it.

"This matter does not seem to have been considered. We have the same issue in my own town of Cashel and there is talk of the post office being moved, something on which we want to get clarification.

"An Post has told us that it needs a post office in Tipperary town but it cannot guarantee us that if this does not work with the postmaster, or if the company does go in and 12 months or two years down the road, it decides it is not viable. We want guarantees from the Government, which controls the post office network, that if An Post does that, the Government or the company will step back in and run the service in Tipperary town in a central location," said the Deputy.

In response Minister of State Collins said that he welcomed the opportunity to outline the position on the matter. Both Minister Ryan and Minister of State Chambers are aware of the impact that decisions relating to changes in An Post operations have on communities and individuals both in rural and urban areas.

The Department will engage with An Post to outline and highlight the concerns that have been raised by staff, consumers and the wider community.

An Post announced last week that it proposes to convert six post offices from An Post-run to contractor-run. One of these is in Tipperary town.

Fewer than 40 post offices out of a total of more than 900 across the State are now run directly by An Post.

An Post has outlined that the change in business model of the six offices will not in any way change the range or extent of services offered by the company in those selected locations.

The company remains committed to providing each area with the highest level of service for the future. An Post has advised that staff who are employed at post offices in question will have the option to take up employment as a new postmaster or to be redeployed within the network" said the Minister.

Deputy Browne further asked the Minister that in the event that it fails to choose a postmaster or, if down the road it chooses to opt out, that An Post would resume responsibility.

"I am asking for the Minister to examine this and respond to us. The Government speaks about how the town is in need of revitalisation and it has funded a task force, but it then took a decision like this.

"That is absolutely crazy as far as we are concerned. It flies completely in face of everything they have been doing to try to revitalise towns such as Tipperary," said Browne.

Responding Deputy Collins said that he had listened with interest to the points the Deputy raised and that Minister Ryan and the Minister of State Chambers, with departmental officials, will reflect the concerns that have been outlined by the Deputy to An Post regarding its announcement.