Ireland and the post

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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* Business
* Ireland bailout
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Letters
Ireland and the post

If Ireland fails (Seven days of denial, 22 November), then so do our post offices. Post Office financial services, including saving accounts, child trust bonds and mortgages, are all provided by the Bank of Ireland – and will continue to be so after the Lib Dems' retreat on their pledge for a Post Bank. This income stream – worth £34m to the Post Office in 2009 – is in a precarious position, putting post offices under renewed threat. This is one reason why we want to see the postal services bill strengthened to protect the post office network. Enshrining the existing access criteria in law – so that 99% of urban and 95% of rural residents are within a mile of a post office – is crucial to maintain the size of the network, plus a guarantee that post offices will be used by Royal Mail or a private successor.

Billy Hayes

General secretary, CWU

[Lounge Lizard]

Could be the worst thing in Ireland since the Potato Famine.