It’s emerged that an additional four post offices in Clare are facing closure.
Kilfenora and Cooraclare this week confirmed to Clare FM that they had accepted redundancy packages from An Post, while eight more said they were staying open.
The remaining four – Doonbeg, Lissycasey, Cree and Craggagh, Fanore – have now been confirmed as being among a list of over 100 across the country that are set to close their doors.
Last April, 14 Clare postmasters and postmistresses were offered the option of remaining on their existing contracts, or taking up a redundancy package.
The deadline to accept this was last Tuesday, and already two of those offices, Kilfenora and Cooraclare, had been confirmed to close.
Four more in Cree, Doonbeg, Lisseycasy and Craggagh-Fanore were still considering their options, but now it’s emerged that all four will shut their doors, though no closing date has been set.
A spokesperson for An Post has told Clare FM that the company needs time to assess applications and is looking at where exits can be facilitated and how their transactions might be consolidated into another local office.
An Post has pledged to ensure that communities of 500 people or more will have a post office, and that everyone living in rural Ireland will be within 15 kilometres of at least one post office.
However, these closures mean that people in communities concerned will now have to travel longer distances to avail of postal services.
A number of postmasters have asked to be allowed to retire with immediate effect, but An Post says none of these are in County Clare.
