Fine Gael TD Michael Ring has called on An Post and the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Éamon Ó Cuív TD to save the postal service on Inisbiggle. “An Post are getting rid of the rural post office by stealth, they are not paying people to make it a viable service. The post office on the island was ran by the O’Malley family for over 60 years and Bridget O’Malley, who was the person running it as an agency up to now, was getting only 36 cent per transaction,” he told the Mayo Advertiser this week.
“Some weeks she was only getting paid €7.60 per week, An Post were basically getting a service for free. I call on Minister Ó Cuív and An Post to come together and try and provide some sort of service for the people on the island. There are plenty of grants that the Minister can give out from his department and I’m calling on him along with An Post to come up with a subsidy to make this service viable for the island. After all people are entitled to a public service and this is one that is vitally important.”
The island’s postal service will end on Friday week, August 8, and all the residents of the island are being asked to direct their postal business to the post office on Achill Sound. With no retail outlets currently located on the island, the 20 residents of Inishbiggle will have to travel to the mainland for all their business and shopping needs, with the closure of the last commercial outlet on the island.
Deputy Ring’s party Leader Enda Kenny also spoke out on the issue in a statement where he expressed his hope that the situation could be rectified soon. “It is regrettable that services may have to cease, however, An Post had a similar situation recently in Ballindine and successfully resolved the matter. I look forward to seeing this matter speedily resolved and the Postal Agency being re-opened as soon as possible.”
