The post office network requires funding of €15 million per year out to 2030 or the Republic faces the prospect of “rapid, unrestrained closures”, which would risk “irreparable financial, economic and social harm”, a report from Grant Thornton has found.
The report on the network, which was produced for the Irish Postmasters’ Union, established it provides €344-€776 million in annual social and economic value to Irish communities.
While An Post, which manages the postal system, is fully self-funded and sustainable, the post office network is mainly composed of independent individual businesses run by contractors under licence from An Post.
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The network has 933 branches, of which 888 are run by independent postmasters who operate as small businesses. They employ about 1,409 people.
However, the report warned the network is now “at a tipping point” having, since 2020, absorbed a cost-of-living crisis marked by 15 per cent inflation, 30 per cent increases in the minimum wage, and a sharp decline in transaction-based income.
The State provided investment to the network during the Covid-19 crisis via a number of financial support mechanisms, including direct funding of €10 million per annum, but this is due to expire at the end of the year.
The report said even a continuation of the €10 million funding is “no longer sufficient to secure the network”. The €15 million investment is “not about expansion”, but “safeguarding what already exists”.
“Without this commitment, Ireland faces the prospect of rapid, unrestrained closures, cutting communities off from vital services, and undermining national goals for regional equity, social cohesion, and financial access,” it said.
Grant Thornton found there has been a decline of 15 million An Post transactions between 2019 and 2023, which has “led directly” to falling postmasters’ gross revenue from €61.6 million to €58 million.
Efforts to improve the financial sustainability of the network, including a reduction in the number of post offices from 952 in 2019 to 902 in 2023, has “not been sufficient” to stabilise postmasters’ gross revenue without additional funding support, it added.
A previous market analysis by Grant Thornton in 2020 highlighted that approximately one-third of post offices were facing significant financial challenges and were at risk of closure without further investment.
“The challenges since 2020 of lower contractual transaction activity levels, falling revenue before costs and taxes, and increased rent, rates, electricity and labour costs indicate that this previous estimate may now be conservative in 2025,” the report said.
In response to questions about the report, An Post said it supports the call for the Government to extend and increase direct funding for postmasters to €15 million per year and “put that on a permanent footing”.
“An Post has invested heavily in the post office network and worked hard to broaden the range of services available through post offices,” a spokeswoman said.
“But to protect the current post office network size and decelerate the closure of post offices, extending Government funding beyond December 2025 is fundamental.”
The Department of Communications said the Government “will continue to provide” the network with funding to “ensure sustainability” and that its officials are “working to deliver on this”.
