Pensioners turn postmen

A Dublin company has come up with an innovative way of beating the postal dispute.

The company is employing senior citizens who qualify for free travel to deliver critical mail to locations around the country.

Mr Pat Delaney of the Small Firms' Association said yesterday that the company, which did not wish to be identified, was one of many using imaginative ways of ensuring business was not unduly damaged by the dispute.

The company was getting in touch with pensioners who had free travel passes, and free time, enabling them to deliver urgent documents to various locations.

Mr Delaney said the dispute was placing small businesses in particular in a difficult situation, but so far most were "managing OK".

The lack of a postal service placed an additional administrative burden on companies, as they were forced to spend more time on the phone following up invoices and performing similar tasks.

If the situation continued, however, the impact on businesses would intensify, he said. "A two-week dispute would be fairly significant and a three-week one extremely significant. For small companies it's all about cash flow, that's all that matters. And a prolonged postal dispute would cause great difficulties."

The dispute is largely concentrated on the east coast but is affecting deliveries to more than half the population, as 60 per cent of post is processed at the Dublin Mail Centre, which is at the centre of the row.

Separate, unofficial disputes are also hitting other areas. An Post is asking customers not to post to or from Dublin city and county, Drogheda, Navan, Bray, Dundalk, Tuam, Carrickmacross, Kells, Wicklow, Castleblayney and Greystones.

Mail posted in or to the Galway area is also subject to "serious delay" and international mail, to or from all parts of the State, is also affected.