‘Government failing rural Ireland’ as Mullinavat, Glenmore and Kilmoganny lose post offices
THE Government is failing the people of rural Ireland through its inadequate response to the closure of rural post offices, Kilkenny TD Bobby Aylward has said.
Deputy Aylward spoke out after he asked the Minister for Rural Affairs and Community Development Michael Ring about his plans to ensure the viability and sustainability of towns and villages in rural area in the Dáil.
The Kilkenny Fianna Fáil TD said: “The dismantling of the rural post office network continues across the country. We lost two important post offices in south Kilkenny at Mullinavat and Glenmore, and another is set to close at Kilmoganny.
“While I acknowledge and appreciate that long-serving postmasters and post mistresses are fully entitled to take their retirement, I am not happy with the way in which the Government is using this as a smokescreen for the closures.
Deputy Aylward hit out at Government claims that it has no operational responsibility for An Post, insisting: “The buck stops with it [Government]. They should be making more of an effort to ensure the viability of these Post Offices.”
He added: “If it had the foresight to implement the recommendations contained in the Kerr report when it was furnished in 2016 regarding the need for additional services to be made available to post offices, places like Mullinavat and Glenmore would have had the chance to increase their footfall and maximise their commercial viability.”
