This article is from page 3 of the 2005-11-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 3 JPG
CALLS have been made to An Post to re-es- tablish its regional sorting office in Ennis, amid claims that the service is descending into chaos.
Business leaders have backed a call from Deputy Pat Breen (FG) for An Post to revert to sorting Clare post in Ennis.
“It is costing businesses in terms of time and money,’ said Ennis Chamber of Commerce, CEO, Rita McInerney.
‘Business people have to follow up on letters when they once could have taken it for granted
that there would be delivery the following day. And there is the expense of having to register or Swiftpost documents on tight deadlines.”
Ms McInerney said that while it is “under- standable from an economic viewpoint that An Post would want to send as much post as possi- ble to Cork, because of the expense involved in the machines they have installed there, it could have been done gradually.
“If we at least had the Clare post sorted in En- nis, it would ensure local post would arrive on time. Then later, when the problems have been sorted out, we could send Clare post down.”
Deputy Pat Breen this week called on An Post
to move the sorting operation back to Ennis.
“With Christmas postings just around the corner, it 1s difficult to see how the current, chaotic system could be expected to cope with the increased volumes,” said the Fine Gael Drea
“It 1s quite clear to me that the new sorting arrangement has failed and is failing the people of Clare. Businesses and homeowners across the county can no longer rely on their postal service, with some letters arriving more than 48 hours after being posted.
On many days in recent weeks, 10,000 let- ters have been left undelivered the next day, be-
cause they could not be taken to Cork in time for sorting.”
Deputy Breen said there had been a tried and trusted local sorting arrangement in place that worked efficiently, but that now doctors could no longer trust the system for sending blood samples, business people could no longer rely on it when making tax returns close to deadline and holidaymakers were “entering a lottery if booking online close to their travel date.
“That system served the region well and if it has to be dismantled in the name of efficiency, the least we can expect is delivery rates remain- ing the same, not a disimprovement.”