Councillors demand answers!

Cork County Council has called for the head of An Post and the Minister for Communications to answer for “unacceptable” delays in Ireland’s postal service.

At Monday's full meeting of Cork County Council, members supported a joint motion by councillors Finbarr Harrington (Ind) and Cathal Rasmussen (Labour), to write to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action.

The motion requested that the Chief Executive of An Post and the Minister for Communications, Patrick O’Donovan TD, appear before the committee to address a postal service that members described as “not reliable anymore”, citing instances of lost mail and weeks-long delivery gaps.

The motion was introduced by Cllr Harrington who stated while the postal service was once the “gold standard”, it is now failing small businesses and vulnerable individuals.

“The deliveries simply aren’t arriving as they should,” he told the chamber.

Cllr Harrington went on to describe “troubling examples” of the impact, including a worker who was forced to forfeit a return flight to Ireland because his work permit—issued in early February—was not delivered until the following month. In another instance, a constituent sent an item worth thousands of euro via registered post that was subsequently lost, with An Post offering only “a fraction of its value” in compensation.

Parcels prioritised

Cllr Rasmussen called the situation an “indictment of senior management” at An Post, arguing a new centralised system in Little Island has caused widespread concern, alleging that An Post is now “prioritising the delivery of parcels over letters” due to increased pressure.

He said: “I’ve received numerous complaints about hospital and other urgent appointments being missed, all down to delivery parcel first before letters.”

Cllr Rasmussen claimed that An Post staff are “overworked” and facing “stress and absenteeism” as a result of the increased pressure.

Postal blackouts

One major concern shared by numerous councillors from around the county was the apparent lack of urgency from An Post to address lengthy regional postal blackouts.

Fine Gael Cllr John Michael Foley said on the Ibane Peninsula, there were periods with “no post at all for just over three weeks”, leaving farmers waiting indefinitely for cheques.

Meanwhile, in Carrigaline, local Fianna Fáil Cllr Patrick Donovan said some estates had “not seen a postman in a month”.

Aontú Cllr Peter O’Donoghue highlighted the closure of 34 post offices in Cork over the last decade, saying the Government needs to “pull a finger out” to support rural services.

The motion was passed with amendments to include the Committee on Enterprise and the Minister for Sport in the council’s correspondence.

In closing, Cllr Harrington emphasised that the goal is to “restore confidence”, noting that people are now “afraid to post stuff” for fear it will never arrive.

In a statement issued by An Post in response to the motion, the postal service said it is currently experiencing a period of unprecedented growth, which it said requires a “significant realignment of resources nationwide”.

The statement read: “Our priority is, as always, to ensure every household and business in Cork and across the country receives consistent, high-quality service.

“We recently began the process of hiring 300 more frontline staff to meet strong growth demands in our national parcel delivery network.

“Over the past 12 months, we have seen a 50% surge in parcel volumes in Cork and throughout the country, alongside a 2% increase in new address points. While letter volumes have declined by 7%, the growth in delivery points means that our teams are delivering more and more complex items at a much higher capacity.

“We have also just come through one of the busiest periods in our history, nationally parcel volumes were over 35% higher this Christmas, with An Post handling 2m parcels and 3m cards weekly. Despite huge efforts, there were delays and interruptions to services for which we apologise.

“We have already increased operational hours in many areas; however, we recognise that the increase in hours and the arrival of new staff may only just now have scaled to meet the current growth levels we are experiencing.”