If the Department of Social Protection forge ahead with plans to implement the electronic issuing of social welfare payments it will be another serious blow inflicted on rural society and community life, by the Fine Gael & Labour Coalition.
Over the last few years there have been a number of cutbacks to local services outside the large urban areas. Cutbacks include bank branch closures, Garda stations being shut and downgraded, and rural schools being under threat. Enough is enough.
Implementing electronic measures will result in lost revenue for the operators of rural post offices due to failing demand. Most will not be able to absorb these losses and will result in closures and job losses. Rural Post Offices provide many invisible services that cannot be quantified in monetary terms; these include the social interaction functions that allow the aged and people living alone to have a friendly chat, chats that could be a person’s only outside interaction on a given day. In addition the knowledge that Postmasters have of the routines of the elderly can act as an early warning system.
The post office remains an important part of the community, let’s keep it that way.
Concern has also been raised in relation to the possible impact on urban post offices due to the recent arrangements made between An Post & Tesco Ireland to create new sub Post Offices. With many Tesco outlets located in the outskirts of towns it will only serve to take shoppers and their business away from town centre shops that are already under threat.
During the last General Election Fine Gael & Labour constantly raging about the lack of joined up thinking, where’s the joined up thinking in any of the above?
