Clonard Post Office, the letter is in the post.

It’s been a long standing cause in Wexford to see a post office in the largest parish in the county.  Clonard doesn’t have a post office.  Year after year, An Post has been lobbied by the former Wexford Borough Council to see what could be done about providing a post office service in Wexford Town’s largest suburb.

An Post do have a substantial sorting office in Wexford at Clonard from where it sorts and distributes post around the town.  Councillors have argued that An Post should provide post office services from the sorting office in Whitemill Industrial Estate.  Such an office would provide easier access for customers to postal and banking services saving especially elderly people a long walk downhill into town, or more importantly a walk up hill home.  An Post have seen their way to providing some postal services at the office in 2016, but interestingly now some opposition to the plan is forthcoming from the Post Masters Union.

The Post Masters Union is an association of shop keepers who provide sub offices from their premises in parishes up and down the country.  18 months ago the post masters nationally signed a contract to continue providing social welfare services for the next 6 years.  This contract is seen as being vital to the viability of post offices especially those in rural areas.

The reality that the last government closed 99 post offices in their time in office and that closures since 2011 are less than 20 under the present government cuts no ice with the post masters.  They want to stall the An Post plans to extend services from sorting offices and prefer to see rural services prioritised.

But where are customers from Clonard expected to go?  There is no sub office convenient to the area.  Stalling the plan only continues the hardship to people in Clonard.  I find it hard to believe that deferring the provision of postal services from Whitemill can impact on any rural post office.  Most of their potential customers presently access services in Wexford’s main post office.

I wonder is the campaign by the post masters more about retaining the commercial profitability of their business rather than providing local post office services to their customers?   Since 2011 just one post office in County Wexford has closed.  Yet we have had scaremongering that government is going to close post offices.  In the same time convenience shopping has seen enormous change with German cost cutters growing at the expense of all other competitors.  The viability of the local shop come post office is under threat because customers are driving to where prices are considerably lower.  But the viability of many shops that don’t have a sub post office are under the exact same threat.  These businesses don’t have the crutch of the pension day payments or Christmas bonuses to boost sales.

It’s time that shop keepers who own a sub post office came out and say it and stop hiding behind unfounded fears of loss of service.  In the meantime, let’s get our sub post office in Clonard.