Plans underway to reopen post office

BROADFORD has been without a post office since November but this week An Post said they are about to start seeking tenders for the reopening of an office.

Speaking to The Clare Champion on Tuesday, PJ Mason, who is chairman of the Broadford Post Office Action Group, said he had just got news that An Post are interested in reopening.

“We’ve had good news that An Post have agreed to put it out to tender and to reopen, subject to finding a suitable candidate.”

He said he is confident that a candidate will be found, as several people have expressed an interest. “Four people have indicated to us that they are interested and there may be others.”

Mr Mason said the decision to close the post office had caused a lot of difficulties for many in the local community, as they were forced to travel 10-15 miles to collect pensions or welfare. He also said it had a detrimental effect on local businesses.

The new post office could be open relatively soon, he said. “It all depends on the process. It will take a few weeks but hopefully it’ll be back up and running in six weeks or so.”

A spokesman for An Post said that in the coming days they will advertise for tenders on their website and locally.

Councillor Joe Cooney was involved in the campaign to get the service restored and he said the old post office had closed without any warning.

“We never got the exact reason as to why it closed but it closed overnight. A person was working in the post office, they were missing for a day, out sick or whatever, and someone else came to run it for a day and it closed that evening. It closed fairly suddenly.”

Local people were told to go to Tulla as an alternative, something he said caused a lot of problems.

“It created major problems and inconvenience, especially for the elderly people. They were used to going to the post office for different things, to collect their pension or whatever they were doing. They arrived on the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of the week it closed and the door was locked with a notice up on the window saying the post office was closed until further notice. At that stage, people didn’t know anything about it. There had been no notice from An Post and it caused major inconvenience, especially for people with no transport.

“They were told to use the post office in Tulla as an alternative until further notice. You had no public transport, some of the elderly people around Broadford have no cars and it caused major inconvenience. When people went to Tulla the following week, they had no ID with them and the post office in Tulla couldn’t attend to them, so they had to go away and get the ID and come back again.”

He is pleased that An Post are doing a U-turn. “There’s a big catchment area for the Broadford Post Office. We carried out a questionnaire and going by that and the response we got from businesses, people are very anxious to get the post office reopened. It’s very welcome news that An Post are going to go to tender to reopen the post office.”

Clare TD Joe Carey said he held discussions with An Post and is pleased there has been a change. He acknowledged An Post for “examining closely the business case for this service”.

“I want also to pay enormous tribute to the Broadford Post Office Action Group, who have taken action on this issue and succeeded in getting a very positive result for their local area. I look forward to a new post office opening in Broadford in due course, following the tendering process,” he said.

Deputy Pat Breen said, “Any threat to close the Broadford Post Office on a permanent basis would have been a major loss to the entire area and I hope now that the advertisement for a new contractor will be placed shortly, An Post will restore services there as soon as possible.

“I would also encourage An Post to expand the range of services available in Broadford, which would consolidate the post office there going forward. I believe that by expanding the range of services, people will vote with their feet and return to Broadford Post Office in even bigger numbers in the future.”