Protest about post office closures outside Taoiseach's office

A STERN message – act to halt the closure of rural and urban post offices or resign – was delivered to Taoiseach Enda Kenny at his constituency office in Castlebar today (Tuesday).

Mr. Kenny wasn't at the Tucker Street office around noon when the memorandum came popping through his letterbox.

Up to 100 people, members of the Irish Postmasters' Union (IPU), and their staff picketed peacefully outside the building for about an hour.

In their eight-paragraph communication, the IPU demanded a 'viable' future for the post office network.

One of the leaders of the protest, IPU President Paddy McCann, who runs Fairymount Post Office, near Castlerea, Co. Roscommon, declared: “The Kerr (Bobby) recommendations are in the dustbin. Nobody wants to implement them. All the while, rural Ireland is dying, its pubs and shops are closing.”

J.P. Scott, chairman of the South Mayo Branch of the IPU, complained that 'government is dithering', tossing the issue of the future of the post office network from one minister to another.

Looking ahead to the annual national conference in Westport on May 6 and 7, Mr. Scott said he hoped the Minister for Communciations, Denis Naughten, will attend 'to tell us exactly what is going on'.