Calls for second post office in Tullamore as post and pay at supermarket is curtailed

THE need for a second post office in Tullamore has been highlighted by Councillor Declan Harvey who says the post and pay services which had been in place at the Tesco store at Cloncollig, are no longer fully operational.

Post and Pay services are located in various shops around the country and deal with international and national mail, express post, stamps, postage paid box, mobile top up, bill pay and tax pay and TV licence renewal, without the need to attend a post office.

Cllr Harvey said this facility at Tesco was extremely popular and many people used it to post letters, parcels and to avail of other services.

However, he says that many of the original staff who were trained by An Post have left and the new staff haven't been trained to deal with An Post customers. He said under data protection rules the existing staff cannot just take over without specialised training. He says all that's available there now is the ability to buy stamps.

''I have always said Tullamore needs a second post office, the service at Tesco went some way towards alleviating the numbers using the post office in the Bridge Centre but now that it's not fully operational then An Post should look at providing a second facility in the town,'' said Cllr Harvey.

Meanwhile a spokesperson for An Post said, ''We are currently in the process of organising a fresh round of training and upskilling for local staff manning our Post and Pay Counter at Tesco Tullamore. This will be carried out in the next few weeks and we apologise for any disruption to the regular Post and Pay service.

"In the meantime a full range of services continues to be available at Tullamore post office and other post offices in the area.''