Decision due on the provision of Blacklion post office services

An Post has announced that it will soon make a decision on the future provision of post office services in Blacklion following a meeting with a local group and political representatives. Last December the postal and communications service said that the options to supply post office facilities to Blacklion in the future “may include closure” of the current office.
The future of the Blacklion Post Office will be determined by the State owned postal service provider after the conclusion of a review of submissions from interested parties. Although the three-week consultation period officially concluded on Sunday, December 18 last week a representative of An Post met with a group from Blacklion that included Deputy Brendan Smith and Cllr John Paul Feeley.
Company spokesman, Angus Laverty, said: “We will now proceed to make a decision on the future provision of post office services in Blacklion. The formal Consultation ended in December but we agreed not to conclude until we could meet a deputation from the local area.”
The assessment will be made on four criterion. They include; the network coverage needs, the level of business at the office, customer access to services elsewhere, and the capacity of neighbouring offices to handle business if the office closes.  Whilst there is a Royal Mail post office across the bridge in Belcoo, the nearest An Post office is a 10 mile round trip to Glenfarne, Co Leitrim.
The consultation process commenced on November 26. At that time a notice was posted in the local post office. It states: “An Post is considering the future post office service provision at Blacklion which could include the permanent closure of the office. However, before the company takes any decision, interested parties who wish to do so are invited to submit their views on the matter to the address below no later than 18 December 2016.”
An Post say that the public consultation process was triggered by the postmistress’s decision to retire.  Speaking to the Celt Mr Laverty said: “I cannot give a timeline at this stage, but we are conscious that our Postmistress wanted to retire on February 14.”