Locals in Kinvara have opened an online petition in a bid to ensure that the village does not lose its post office later this month. Those behind the petition say that the impending vacancy in the post office was not widely advertised in any local or national press and therefore, the lack of interest in taking it over is not reflective of reality.
Seven months ago, Gerry and Carmel Ryan, gave notice that they were to retire, after running the Kinvara Post Office for 25 years. Gerry’s aunt Francey Ryan ran the Post Office for the previous 35 years. An Post responded to this notice by putting a poster in the window looking for interested parties to take over the service.
“They did not advertise this in local or national press,” said Maeve Kelly, one of the petition organisers. “Now, to our dismay, locals have been informed that the post office will be closing on August 14 2021 due to “lack of interest” in the position. This supposed lack of interest is most probably due to nobody being informed.
“The Post Office service in Kinvara has been a hugely important hub of activity for many years. It continues to be a busy service and is a core enterprise in this rural community. It is responsible for the provision of vital financial services to the most vulnerable service users in our area.
“There is a agreement between An Post and the Government that An Post must ensure that people continue to have access to financial services and are not financially excluded.
“One worrying result of this will be that our most vulnerable; older service users and those with physical or intellectual challenges, will now have to travel to Kilcolgan (8 km ) or Gort (14.5 km ) to draw their cash payments.
“There is also a serious lack of public transport in the area and people without cars are at a distinct disadvantage, for example to get to the Post Office in Kilcolgan by bus will mean a two hour wait or more to get another bus back to Kinvara.
“Kinvara is a growing village and has many small businesses who both directly and indirectly benefit from the presence of our post office and the removal of this vital service will undoubtedly have a detrimental effect on these businesses.
“We have put an online petition together and at the time of writing this, we have 1340 signatures on it since last Friday. We urgently need An Post and Minister Eamon Ryan to reissue the call for a postmaster in Kinvara and this time advertise it so that relevant interested parties can see it,” she said.
The link for the petition is https://my.uplift.ie/petitions/save-our-post-office-in-kinvara
