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Minister Ring establishes Post Office Hub Working Group

The Minister of State for Regional Economic Development, Mr Michael Ring T.D., today established a Working Group to examine how Post Offices could act as community hubs arising from a recommendation from the Final Report of the Post Office Network Business Group.

The Programme for a Partnership Government commits to acting on all of these recommendations.

The Group recognised the value of the post office as a key piece of rural infrastructure that could revitalise rural communities and has recommended that a number of Post Offices could act as hubs, around which local social and economic activity would revolve.

The Post Office Hub Working Group, has been established to examine all aspects of this recommendation and report back to Government with recommendations on how this can best be achieved.

Minister Ring commented “It is my view and Government policy that An Post should remain a strong, viable company in a position to provide a high quality postal service and maintain a national network of customer focused post offices in the community. The post office network plays an important role in serving the needs of business and domestic customers alike. I believe that the rollout of Post Office Hubs could potentially be of considerable benefit to local communities and contribute greatly to rural rejuvenation.

The Group’s initial membership is drawn from the Irish Postmasters Union (IPU), An Post, the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural & Gaeltacht Affairs, Irish Rural Link & also has community representation.

The group is expected to report back to Government before the end of the year.