The Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, became the postman's pal yesterday, when he announced a ban on low letter boxes.
From January 1st next all new houses will have to have letter boxes at a proper level for ease of postal delivery. The decision follows a long campaign by postal workers.
Last night the industrial officer of the Communications Workers Union, Mr Chris Hudson, told The Irish Times that the State's 4,500 post persons would be thrilled. "Fair play to Noel Dempsey. As a former postman myself I can tell you it will make such a big difference. "On some estates you could have 50 of these letter boxes in a row, having to bend down each time and with the bag on your back slipping off.
"Of course it meant there was an increased chance of injury and it slowed down the delivery of mail."
The pain became too much for a Dublin postman Mr Ian Barclay who was awarded £43,500 in the High Court in 1998 for damages as a result of strain caused to his back from having to reach low-level letter boxes. At that time Mrs Justice McGuinness, who presided over the case against An Post, blamed the "negative attitude" of the Department of the Environment for failing to amend the building regulations to ensure they were placed at the right height.
"A moment's thought would convince one that this form of door design is totally contrary to common sense," said Mrs Justice McGuinness at the time. An Post has been lobbying architects, builders, developers, door makers and porch manufacturers. It even produced a leaflet on the issue, headed Delivering Letters can be a Pain. Low-level letter boxes have been around a long time but apparently became highly fashionable around the mid-1980s. However they never made much sense to postmen. "You don't have a keyhole there so why would you put a letter box down at the bottom of the door?" asked Mr Hudson last night.
He said that following the 1998 court case there had been fears that there would be "a rash of cases, like the deaf soldiers, but that never materialised". Mr Dempsey said yesterday that he had made building regulations requiring the letter boxes to be located at least 760 mm (30") and not more than 1450 mm (57") above the level for standing outside the door. "These regulations will be welcomed by postal delivery workers and couriers alike," said the Minister.