By Amy Campbell,EchoLive.ie

Copyright echolive

Cork City Council is to write to the minister for the Environment, Climate, and Communications, Darragh O’Brien, and the Government asking them to secure the future of the Post Office Network through an annual investment of €15m.

The Echo recently revealed that since 2015, 257 post offices have closed across the country, with 34 of these in Cork.

Cork had the largest number of post office closures; 22 in rural areas and 12 in urban areas have closed down in the last 10 years.

Fine Gael councillor Damian Boylan tabled a motion at Monday’s council meeting proposing that Cork City Council calls on the Government to commit to investing €15m annually in the Irish Post Office Network.

“The Irish Post Office Network processes more than 84m transactions annually, to a value of €14bn, including €7bn in welfare payments. Post offices provide essential financial services to micro and small businesses, particularly in areas abandoned by traditional banks, with 540 post offices operating in communities, where no bank exists within a 5km radius.

“Post offices are critical to combating social exclusion and ensuring access to face-to-face services for individuals and families who cannot rely on digital alternatives”, Mr Boylan said, adding that closures have “a damaging effect on communities, particularly for vulnerable individuals and local businesses”.

Labour’s Ciara O’Connor supported the motion, saying: “The people who run our post offices notice if someone’s not coming in”.

She said that it was not just the elderly who use the post office, with small businesses run by young women using the post office to deliver orders.

Labour’s Peter Horgan, Fine Gael’s Joe Kavanagh and Shane O’Callagan as well as the Green Party’s Honore Kamegni also spoke in favour of the motion, highlighting its importance particularly given the move of banking services online. The motion was agreed unanimously.