Southside Labour reps welcome “glimmer of hope” for Rathmines post office

Labour representatives have said there is a “glimmer of hope” for the future of the Rathmines post office building.

This week saw a meeting between Dublin City Council, Dublin Bay South representatives and An Post, and a one-year rolling licence was agreed between the Council and An Post.

Labour leader and local TD Ivana Bacik said that it is “progress”, but it is not the end of the campaign.

The licence will come into effect after September 28; in the meantime, Dublin City Council will interact with the local community to seek expressions of interests about the building being used for community usage purposes.

Bacik said that the meeting was a “watershed moment” in the years-long campaign to protect the post office.

Bacik, alongside Pembroke councillor Dermot Lacey and Kimmage-Rathmines councillor Fiona Connelly, have been attempting to keep the post office open since 2022.

Bacik explained “it was a Labour initiative that originally brought Dublin City Council, An Post and local public representatives together in the first place to sit around the same table and discuss the building’s future”

“I want to thank my colleagues, councillors Fiona Connelly and Dermot Lacey, for raising this at the Council so persistently. Since then, campaigners have brought forward thoughtful and constructive ideas about what this building could become for Rathmines,” the Dublin Bay South TD said.

“Our campaign will continue to make the case for a sustainable future for the building and for local postal services, more generally. The former Rathmines Post Office is an iconic public building with deep roots in this community. Indeed, it belongs to the community. We must continue making the case for it to remain in public ownership and to find a future use that serves Rathmines,” she said.

Bacik warned, “we have already seen what can happen when essential postal services are moved out of dedicated, publicly owned facilities and into private retail premises.”

She stated, “the impeding closure of another local shop providing postal services in Ranelagh should sound a warning about the vulnerability of that model. Postal services are essential public services. They are particularly important for older people, disabled people, those who are less able to use digital services and anyone who needs accessible, face-to-face support.”

Bacik said “we need a sustainable future for those public services, and we need to protect the public assets that allow our communities to access them,” adding that this week’s development “gives us time to make that case; the campaign now has to use that time.”

“This development is a testament to people power: the emails to the Ministers, letters to the editor, petitions, protests and conversations with neighbours have all made the difference. We will keep pushing for a future for this building that keeps it in public ownership and puts the needs of the community in Rathmines first,” she said.