Clare Fine Gael TD Joe Cooney has requested the Government to intervene in the ongoing efforts of the local community in Lisdoonvarna to prevent the North Clare town’s post office from closing.
An Post recently advertised a vacancy in the Lisdoonvarna post office for the third time after no service operator was secured.
Deputy Cooney has written to Finance Minister Jack Chambers and Communications Minister Darragh O’Brien, whose department is responsible for postal services, highlighting the low level of financial compensation offered to the operators of such facilities in rural communities.
The Clare TD has also argued that the State should consider lifting the prohibition around post offices being operated by local social enterprises to ensure the Lisdoonvarna service is retained.
“Following meetings with the local community and local Fine Gael Councillor Joe Garrihy, it is my understanding the main reason behind the potential closure of Lisdoonvarna’s post office is the low level of financial compensation offered to the operators of such facilities in rural communities, materially affecting their viability,” he explained. “Many post offices in recent years have been relocated into small shops, but in some cases the community is not serviced by shops of a scale that is suitable for this addition to their business, or the owners may not be able to take it on. This should not be the reason why a community would lose such a key public service.”
Deputy Cooney continued, “The closure of a primary state service such as a post office, often the only visible national public service in rural communities, needs to be looked at in the context of how the community of Lisdoonvarna has done more than their fair share in accommodating those who have fled the war in Ukraine. Practically every tourism bed in their town has been taken over in the provision of this service for the state, with an extremely significant consequential impact on their tourism economy.”
In his letters to Ministers Chambers and O’Brien, Deputy Cooney wrote, “I understand that Post Office services are not permitted to be delivered by a local social enterprise, which, in many communities, can and do provide many other vital services. The funding to operate the Post Office could supplement their other activities and provide an income for local community members. Maybe this could be examined as a possible solution in the medium term to the provision of this service.”
“I would ask that, as shareholder in An Post, you intervene here at the highest level to ensure everything possible is done so this service does not leave the town,” he added.