The government has announced a €30m funding package to support the nationwide network of 900 post offices over the next three years.

The funds will go towards safeguarding the most vulnerable post offices to ensure continuity of state services and will be distributed on both a fixed and performance-based basis that will be determined by An Post and the Irish Postmasters Union and approved by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

Exact details relating to the disbursal of funds will be released in due course, subsequent to these consultations.

Postmasters, independent business owners contracted by An Post to run post offices and whose income is derived on a fee per transaction basis, will be given direct financial support by the state for the first time as part of the measures.

Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan and Minister of State with responsibility for Postal Matters Hildegarde Naughton brought a memo outlining the funding package to cabinet on Tuesday.

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In approving the measures, the government said it recognises the importance of a high-value and high-quality post office networking to citizens throughout Ireland as well as the central role of postmasters in communities.

The intervention will require an amendment to Postal and Telecommunications Act 1983, and the government said approval for draft legislation will be sought in due course.

Speaking from the post office in Stillorgan, where details of the scheme were announced, Naughton said: “Post offices are a vital part of our community; a fact clearly evident in the monthly footfall of over one million visitors to post offices.

"Post offices play a central role to both society as a whole and to government through the provision of high-quality public services in towns, villages and cities right across the country.

"I am confident that this €30m multi-annual scheme, amounting to €10m each year for three years, will protect our post office network and will ensure that families and businesses nationwide can continue to access services from within their own communities."

She went on to commend the work of postmasters and post office workers through "incredibly challenging times during the height of Covid-19."

Naughton concluded: “A modernised post office network will provide a better and wider range of community banking and e-commerce services – for citizens and businesses. Through this measure we are underlining our commitment to a sustainable, nationwide post office network.

"The duration of the support package – a three-year period – will provide certainty for postmasters and the public, enabling new commercial initiatives and services to be developed. Our aim is to protect and nurture a sustainable and commercially focussed post office network.”

Commenting on the measures, Ryan said: “The post office has a central role in the social fabric of this country, in urban communities, and particularly in rural Ireland. This package will provide a one-off intervention of €10m a year over a three-year period (2023-2025 inclusive) – to support a sustainable post office network in line with our commitments in the Programme for Government.

"This measure will help to ensure that people can continue to have access to important services through the post office network. It also underpins the government’s commitment to a network that is sufficient in scale and capacity for people to be able to access these services, no matter where they live.”

An Post has already embarked on a €150m strategic transformation plan that has been partially funded by a €30m long-term, low-interest loan from the government in 2017 to support the post office network and ensure the fulfilment of a five-day-per-week mail delivery service.

The state-owned company announced an €8.5m pandemic relief fund last June that will benefit all post offices until the end of this year.

(Pic: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie)