Donnelly criticises “bean counter” treatment of postal services

Sinn Féin TD Paul Donnelly has said that post offices are “under pressure” and has criticised the government’s “bean counter” culture.

The Dublin West TD said, “many years ago, our post office in Corduff was lost and never returned, despite a huge campaign by the community, there is no doubt this loss is still felt.”

He criticised the attitude of government TDs on the issue, remarking “sometimes I feel like I am in a parallel world here; if we tabled a motion this evening to protect rural post offices, I have no doubt every Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Deputy and every Lowry Independents would vote against it, yet every single person is coming in to talk about local post offices,” referencing how government TDs discussed the closure of post offices in their constituencies.

Donnelly said that in engagement with his local post office in recent weeks, it has been communicated to him that there has been a 7% decrease in letters out for delivery but a 44% increase in parcel delivery.

The Sinn Féin TD said that the collapse of a private parcel delivery firm has created a “massive spike” in the number of parcels at the local depot in Coolmine and regretted that the post office in Coolmine closed.

 Speaking in the Dáil, Donnelly said “the volume is so large An Post has had to erect large tents in the car park. I get messages every other day about the postal service. Important letters and parcels are being delivered late. Last week, a person was worried because the decorations for a wedding they had planned were stuck in the depot and they could not get it access to them.”

“Letters from hospitals and other important things people are waiting on are not being received until late in the day or sometimes when the date has passed.”

He said those incidents are a microcosm of the Irish postal service, saying “we have to talk about what the postal service is.”

“Is it just about delivering letters and parcels? It is not. Every single person who has come in here today has talked about the vital public and social service post offices provide.”

Donnelly criticised the “bean counter” culture at the heart of government and their handling of post office closures, saying they operate on a mentality of “how much will it cost, what is the profit, and what is the loss?”

“We can never measure, and we never even attempt to measure, the positive social aspects of public services we had,” he said.