This article is from page 4 of the 2014-07-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
CRATLOE Post Office Action Group have been given two weeks to put forward a plan to improve business at the post office or face possible closure.
The group met with senior officials from An Post in East Clare last Friday, in an effort to convince the postal company to retain the local service.
The meeting, which was described as “positive” by Jim Enright of the action group, was also attended by three Clare TDs as well as Mayor of Clare, John Crowe (FG).
The future of Cratloe Post Office came into doubt two week ago when an An Post review of operations found that the post offices was not generating enough income to justify keeping it open.
The Cratloe Post Office Action Group has gathered more than 1,000 signatures locally from people and businesses who are pledging to use the post office more often.
The action group have proposed a five-year trial period with An Post, to allow local people to support their post office and increase usage numbers.
“It was a good worthwhile meeting. We have until Friday week (July 11) to put in our submission on behalf of the action group and we have asked all the local organisation to support the submission. We need to put forward as strong a case as we can,” said Jim Enright.
“We need more business to take place at the post office to make it viable from An Post’s point of view. A lot of people live in the parish but work in Limerick or Shannon and they use the post offices in these towns. We need people to change their habits and support their local post office.
“We asked An Post to give the post office a five-year trial provided there was a concerted effort by the local community.”
The Cratloe Post Office Action Group say they will take to the streets if necessary to protest for the retention of their post office.
“We would protest if that is neces sary – whether to the GPO or wherever. We will do it but hopefully we won’t need to,” said Jim.
“I am hopeful that we might be a five year reprieve.”
The mid-west representative of the Irish Postmasters’ Union, Kildysart native Tom O’Callaghan, has called on the Government to allocate more services to post offices in a bid to maintain their viability in a time of increased pressure.