Community of Donard vow to fight closure of local Post Office

Over 120 people attended a public meeting in Donard organised by Sinn Féin TD John Brady and have vowed to fight to save their local post office. The post office in Donard is one of 159 named by An Post to close in the coming months.

Speaking after the meeting Teachta Brady said “I was delighted to see over 120 people pack the Donard Community Hall. Members of the community and I had organised the meeting to discuss the planned closure of the Donard post office by An Post.”

“It was a very positive meeting and many speakers outlined how important the Post Office is to Donard for social and economic reasons. It is a vital lifeline for the village of Donard and the wide catchment area that it serves.”

Teachta Brady continued “There was unanimous support that we would fight to retain the vital service. The Donard Post Office Action Group was set up and a number of events are planned in the coming weeks. A submission will be made on behalf of the community to the Independent Review body established to deal with the planned closure of the 159 post offices across the State. Members of community will be also encouraged to make submissions before the deadline of 28th September.”

“Over the coming week’s pressure will also be put on the Government and Government TD’s. The Government must act to save these post offices, they can’t be silent bystanders and allow the heart be ripped out of rural Ireland. Is this part of the Government’s Project Ireland 2040 plan to develop rural Ireland, by destroying rural communities and increasing rural decline with the removal of local services? ”

Sinn Féin representative for West Wicklow Aidan Kinsella said “If Minister Naughten is serious about reversing rural decline then he must intervene to save these post offices from closure. A plan must be put in place to allow that post office remain in its own premises or for another local business to take it over.”

Teachta Brady concluded “I would encourage all communities facing a post office closure to appeal to An Post through their review mechanism which can be done in writing to review@anpost.ie or Independent Reviewer, An Post GPO, Dublin 1.”