Hundreds of post offices could go out of business this summer when a key state payment scheme is to be reduced.
That’s according to the Irish Postmasters Union, which says the reduction will put banking services in jeopardy all over rural Ireland.
The union wants the government to bring in a payment scheme of €17 million to help keep them in business.
General secretary Ned O’Hara says changes promised nearly two years ago just haven’t materialised, noting “What we’re asking for is a plan for the business cycle of five to seven years that the government would take the decision that it recognises the fact that people value the network, the fact that people use the network but unless it is supported it’s going to wither on the vine and sometimes we wonder is that the strategy as opposed to the plan for the government just to let it happen, because the amount of money required to support the network is minuscule”.
