Public Meeting called to save Post Office in village in Offaly

A public meeting has been called to try and save Kinnitty Post Office.

The meeting will be held in Kinnitty Community Centre, on Wednesday, September 4, starting at 7.30pm. A representative from An Post will attend to answer any questions.

Following the retirement of Postmistress Breda Byrne the future of the service in the village has been thrown into doubt because no one has yet been found to replace her.

“It would be good to see a large attendance at this public meeting,” Cllr John Clendennen told The Midland Tribune. “Obviously no retail business can operate without a property or a person. If we want to keep a post office in Kinnitty we need to identify both in the coming weeks. Hopefully we'll reach a positive solution. The opportunity to be the new Postmaster in the village is still available. Anyone interested in the role should contact me. I would also like to wish Breda well in her retirement and thank her for many years of very important service.”

On Tuesday this week Deputy Carol Nolan told The Midland Tribune that she had just received confirmation from An Post that “it plans to proceed with the closure of Kinnitty Post Office at a date in or around mid-October which will see the transfer of its services to Birr Post Office.” The Deputy said she is engaging with An Post to “try and secure the retention of the Kinnitty service which has been offered for the last number of decades by Postmistress Breda Byrne.”

Cllr Clendennen said people shouldn't throw in the towel yet. "I don't think we should give up yet. There is nothing confirmed yet. It's premature to say the fight is over. We can still save our Post Office, we can still ensure it remains in the village. With that in mind I'm appealing to everyone to please attend the public meeting.”

Deputy Nolan said Breda Byrne has offered “staunch service to Kinnitty and has truly earned her retirement, but we do need the service to continue and that is why I remain determined to constructively engage with An Post to try and achieve a positive outcome. An Post’s position is that it has been working to avoid the closure for some time, and has advertised the vacant contract, canvassed the area and likely applicants but to no avail. This means that existing customers, and in particular Department of Social Protection customers, will transfer to Birr.

“An Post also notes in its reply to me that in recent years the Government has supported Postmasters by way of subvention and that the Irish Postmasters Union are currently pushing for the continuation of that subvention which is due to run out next year. I have previously highlighted the concerns that Postmasters have with the subvention. Indeed, when it was announced in 2022 as a 'targeted and time-bound proposal' of between €10,000 and €12,000 per year, I made the point that the first reaction of a lot of people I had talked to on the matter was that it just did not stack up as a sincere effort by the Government to provide permanent guarantees around the future of the Post Office network.”

Deputy Nolan pointed out that the fear is that the subvention is a ruse to see the Government through up until the next election “after which the ‘evidence’ to withdraw the subvention would suddenly materialise and we would be back to square one.”

“I have presented An Post with a possible option for a premises in Kinnitty as a location for a new Post Office and I am awaiting a reply on that matter,” she said.