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26 August 2004 Edition

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An Post mismanagement

Last week, another sub-Post Office in rural Ireland, on the Bearra Peninsula in West Cork, announced that it was to close — the fourth in as many years in that rural community. Many other sub-offices, and the communities that depend on them, face a similar fate, with An Post unwilling to provide a viable grant to private individuals to take on the service.

Meanwhile, the grim reaper that is the board of An Post casts its shadow over 55 Company Branch Post Offices that it wants to close in the coming 12 months, and contract out inferior services to private operators, ie the same Sub Office structure that is fast becoming an extinct species in smaller villages.

To crown it all, the Board of An Post wants to raise the price of the standard stamp from 48 to 55 cents according to media reports, because of the company's financial difficulties.

Meanwhile, as the service and the company goes down the swanny, and the customers are being fleeced, the relevant minister sits back apparently oblivious to what's happening.

Over the last three to four years, there has been an inexplicable and dramatic decline in the profitability of An Post, and this is being used as the excuse for cutbacks, closures and price increases. The previous Chief Executive left the company (but not himself) in a financial mess after only a few short years in office, while his successor seems hell-bent on continuing to make the public pay for the ineptitude of the top brass in the company.

Or is it a bit like another company making headlines at the moment? Is the management at An Post purposely running the company into the ground, with the intention of proposing a management buy-out?

This should not be allowed to continue. Minister Dermot Ahern should immediately instigate an investigation into the management of An Post, with particular emphasis on the role of the Chief Executive and Board of Management in recent years.

We are entitled to know what are the salaries, expenses and pensions of these members, and what was the golden handshake given to the last Chief Executive for his mismanagement of An Post?


An Phoblacht
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Dublin 1
Ireland