Fianna Fáil TD for Galway East Anne Rabbitte says Fine Gael has a lot to answer for when it comes to the closure of 18 rural post offices in the county.
The East Galway TD says that Fine Gael is attempting to lay the blame on An Post for the closure of post offices in places like Eyrecourt, Ballyglunin, Kiltulla and New Inn with many Ministers content to pull the wool over people’s eyes and deflect from their own failures”, said Deputy Rabbitte.
“Over the past seven years we have seen the closure of Garda stations, banks and even small schools, as this government forces through its Dublin focused agenda.
“Anywhere outside of the capital and the commuter belt has been left behind. When the An Post restructuring was first announced, local government TDs were assuring people that everything would be done to save their local post office. This latest round of closures puts paid to that assertion,” she added.
“Galway is facing the largest number of closures in any county, and people will be forced to travel long distances for services which are currently on their doorstep. The closure of Eyrecourt Post Office will see customers undertaking a round trip of almost 22km to another county to get to the nearest post office,” said Dep Rabbitte
“t’s a senseless situation. As I said previously, post masters and post mistresses are absolutely entitled to take their redundancy packages. They more than deserve them. However, there is no excuse for An Post and the government not offering replacement contracts to other people willing to keep the post office open. “The closure of these post offices in Galway, and across the rest of rural Ireland, is because of Fine Gael. It has allowed An Post make these decisions and Ministers have chosen not to intervene. It’s a damning indictment of the government’s commitment to rural Ireland,” she concluded.
