As part of its 'Save Rural Ireland' campaign, Muintir Na Tíre will fight to ensure that the post offices of the country are not made redundant. They provide a very important service to 100s of thousands of people, both in rural and urban Ireland.
Muintir Na Tíre is strongly opposed to the Department of Social Protection's decision to send out thousands of forms that urge customers to use banks rather than post offices to receive state benefits.

This is an obvious indirect action by the government to weaken the viability of post offices.

If customers are being told by the Department of Social Protection to consider receiving their state benefits through financial institutions, then it is basically seeking to ensure the future closure of post offices.

A few weeks ago our organisation held a launch in Dublin along with the ICSFA, the ICA, the Irish Postmasters' Union and the Irish National Flood Forum and the Post Office Users Group. These bodies represent over 100,000 and more bodies are willing to come on board. The focus initially from the bodies mentioned are insurance in flood areas, GP cover, control of scrap metal and rural broadband.

A number of TDs attended the launch and gave their full backing to our campaign. And yet the views of those said politicians seem to be at odds with the decision taken by the Department of Social Protection.

According to the forms sent out by the Department of Social Protection: "The department recommends direct payments to your current, deposit or savings account in a financial institution. This is the best payment option for you as you can receive your payment at a time and place that suits you," the letter states.

That the letter claims that this represents the best payment option is clearly undermining post offices and the service they provide, services that have stood the test of time. It is indeed over 400 years ago since the first post office in the state was set up. We had a post office before we had a bank in this country.

Of course, were post offices not such a viable service, one could understand the need for change. But their need is as great as ever. In employment alone, An Post is directly responsible for providing 9,500 jobs. But more importantly, it's a vital asset that allows people of every age to be within a reasonable distance of accessing it services.

The gradual decrease in the use of cheques and other methods of payments is inevitable. But do we ultimately want to have a situation where we enter a commercial premises to deal with our financial affairs where there is no human interaction or customer care, which will inevitably lead to a cashless society?

Muintir Na Tíre will be backing the Irish Postmasters' Union in their efforts to safeguard the future of Post Offices.