Rathmines locals protest over An Post move to sell ‘cultural icon' later this year
Rathmines
post office on Saturday morning in a demonstration against its relocation and planned sale of the building.
The protest came after
An Post
this week confirmed its plans to move the Rathmines branch by September, paving the way for the sale of one of the most prominent buildings in the south
Dublin
suburb.
Labour
leader and local TD
Ivana Bacik
organised Saturday's demonstration, alongside local councillors Fiona Connelly and Dermot Lacey. Speaking at the protest, she said the building should be kept 'in community usage', adding that 'our priority is to keep the postal service in the retail hall'.
Labour leader Ivana Bacik at the protest in Rathmines on Saturday. Photograph: Ella Sloane
The imposing 1934 art deco building will be sold with two other Dublin post offices – Phibsborough and Tallaght – as well as a further three across the State, as part of the 'transformation of the national post office network,' An Post said previously.
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At present, 95 per cent of the country's post offices are already contracted out to independent business owners, who often run post office services as part of a local shop.
It is understood the Rathmines post office will move to a Centra store in the locality.
Ms Bacik described the demonstration as 'a last-ditch appeal' to Minister for Communications
Patrick O'Donovan
and Minister for Expenditure
Jack Chambers
to not sign off on the property's divestment.
'The post office is a very well loved, much-used building. This is very much from the heart.'
Ms Connelly stressed the importance of public buildings such as the post office 'as a community asset and a community resource'.
Cllr Fiona Connelly at the protest. Photograph: Ella Sloane
'It's really sad to see a resource like the post office, that's in such demand and so heavily used, closing.'
Enid O'Dowd, a local and regular user of the postal service, said the decision to sell the building was 'just ridiculous', expressing concern at the pressure the branch's relocation would place on the post office in Ranelagh.
Speaking of the branch's speculated move to a nearby Centra, she said the shop 'is going to be a very crushed place with queues spilling out on to the pavement'.
'What's going to happen is people are going to start using the one in Ranelagh but that isn't big enough for the demand. They've only two cashiers there.'
Enid O'Dowd at the protest. Photograph: Ella Sloane
Cliona Buckley, who grew up on Leinster Road said: 'The last thing they [An Post] should be doing is shutting down memorable, protected, built for purpose buildings. What they should be doing is spending money cleaning up the front of it or they could have lovely potted plants or flower baskets and make it a feature.'
She said the post office's planned closure and sale showed a failure by An Post 'to serve the Irish citizens'.
Andrew Folan, Mary Freehill and Cliona Buckley at the protest. Photograph: Ella Sloane
Another local demonstrator, Andrew Folan, said he felt 'absolutely outraged' by An Post's decision, adding that it was indicative of 'the digitalisation of our culture'.
'The analogue thing of writing letters, posting letters, distributing parcels and meeting the community while you do it is an essential part of our life. I think that the gradual shutting down of post offices is a very negative thing.'
Mr Folan pointed to the need for 'a spacious building' due to demand for the service.
'This is a fantastic cultural icon, beautiful design and art deco, well built and a landmark for Rathmines. I think we should celebrate what we've got and show a bit more regard for our culture and our heritage,' he said.
Former Labour councillor Mary Freehill, from Rathmines, said the recent loss of the suburb's citizen's information centre in 2022 had already taken a toll on the community. 'There isn't a place for people to come together.'
'Rathmines has very few publicly owned buildings,' said Ms Freehill, adding 'this is the only thing built by the Irish State in Rathmines. All of our other public buildings were built by the British.'
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