The last of eight post offices on North Donegal’s picturesque Fanad Peninsula will shut its doors for good by Halloween, in news which has shocked and dismayed locals.
Ballylar Post Office, Fanad’s last remaining post office, will close for business by October, because it is no longer financially viable. The post office network, in years gone by, had served Ballynashannagh, Doaghbeag, Portsalon, Rossnakill, Kindrum, Ballyheerin and Ballylar But by the autumn all eight areas will be without a local post office.
The closure, in the eyes of Wendy and Ronan McElwaine, who have run the post office for the last 18 years, is another example of the rural community in North West Donegal being “forgotten,” with the news coming as a big blow to locals, with the loss of a key place for people to meet in their community.
The McElwaine family’s ancestors first set up the services in Ballylar 152 years ago, with the office having been in the family since 1873. Rural decline, coupled with a lack of government input, has left the family with no other choice, Mr McElwaine told Gript.
On July 10th, An Post sent the family a Triennial Review letter informing them that from the first of July 2025, their monthly salary was to be cut by a significant amount for the next three years. They will now be handing in their notice after almost two decades at the helm of the much-loved local post office.
The couple say that postmasters need to be paid properly for the transactions they are doing, which includes everything from social welfare payments to bill pay and banking. They say that it is not only the Government that needs to step up, but An Post too. At the same time, they welcome government funding, or “subvention” to support the An Post network of €10 million per annum, over a three-year fixed term (2023-2025). In addition to this, An Post announced a €8.5 million pandemic relief fund in June 2021, which benefitted Irish post offices over an 18-month period.
Without the €30 million government allowance, they say there is little doubt that they would have already had to shut their doors.
“The Government’s allowance was the only thing that kept us open, but there remains a huge need for the government to step in and support the post offices. An Post desperately needs to step up too and start paying for the transactions and the extra work that postmasters are doing, because the reality is that there’s a lot of work that we are doing and not getting paid for at all. Both need to come together, because postmasters are just not being paid properly as things stand.”
Gript understands that An Post will advertise the contract to cover Fanad. The news of the post office’s closure after so many generations has been met with a sense of personal loss, given that many local people may soon have to travel further distances by car for many postal services. It forms a small part of the bigger national picture; Over the last decade, 257 post offices have closed nationally (per a reply to a parliamentary question tabled by Sinn Féin TD David Cullinane).
Mr McElwaine says that the post office will close by Halloween because the Government has “abandoned” rural Ireland. The family feel that with the closure of the post office comes the loss of an important hub where the wellbeing of customers living alone and the elderly takes priority. The post office also includes a shop and a coffee shop which stays open seasonally, and is located three miles from Fanad Head in the heart of the Gaeltacht. Those extra services, where locals can pop in to buy newspapers and pints of milk, have helped subsidise the business, but it’s still not enough to make it financially viable.
Speaking to Gript, the McElwaines said that the decline has been hastened by a lack of vision from the Government which amounts to a failure to create community hubs which are properly funded and supported so that they can continue to form a vibrant part of community life. Such services, they say, could be retained at very little cost.
Ronan told Gript: “My wife and I took on the family business almost twenty years ago. Wendy has been the postmistress for these past eighteen years, and her role, her care for the customers, especially those who live on their own or are older and come to collect their pensions, has gone far beyond the role of the parish postmaster. Before that, my dad ran the post office in this location for 44 years.
“Prior to that, it was my grand aunt Katie “the baker” and great grandfather, John “the baker” who ran the post office just around the corner which also had a small country shop and at one time a small family bakery, hence the family name, “The Bakers.” So, we’re going back a full 153 years. It has been in our family for generations.”
The closures come as An Post found itself in the national spotlight this summer, after a public spat unfolded between Minister for Communications Patrick O’Donovan and An Post chief executive David McRedmond. The controversy centred on claims around the financial stability of the semi-State postal service, and claims, described by Mr McRedmond as “utter garbage” about An Post being in financial trouble. In July, Mr McRedmond hit out at what he called an “irresponsible leak” following media reports about the company being on the brink of financial turmoil.
The postal service’s annual report, brought to Cabinet by Minister O’Donovan in July, showed that while profits had risen, there was an “inexorable decline” in overall mail numbers. Ministers were told that the company could be forced to change the frequency or speed of postal deliveries due to costs and changing consumer habits, with core mail volumes tumbling by 7.6 per cent, (which the report said was in line with global trends).
However, profits after exceptional items stood at €5.6m, up from a €20m loss in 2023, on the back of first-ever revenues of €1bn. “The company is performing extremely well. We’ve got the highest level of parcel growth of any postal operator in Europe,” Mr McRedmond told RTE last month, hitting back at suggestions the company was in difficulty.
However, in June, postmasters warned that 40% of Irish post offices could close unless Government funding for the network is increased, with the Irish Postmasters Union (IPU) calling for a 50% increase in State funding to €15 million per year over the next five years to secure the network.
The €10 million the network currently receives annually is not adequate, the IPU has warned, with the union’s General Secretary, Sandra Tormey, recently telling the Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications that 108 postmasters are earning less than the minimum wage when costs are taken out.
“If the Government funding stays the same at €10 million, 40% will have to close. We’ve had to absorb 30% minimum wage increases and 15% inflation,” Ms Tormey said, adding that a poll of members has shone a light on the scale of the problem.
In addition to that, a recent report from Grant Thornton found there has been a decline of 15 million An Post transactions between 2019 and 2023, something which the audit and tax company said “led directly” to postmasters’ gross revenue decreasing from €61.6 million to €58 million.
Similarly, the McElwaines highlight these issues, adding that most postmasters have no choice but to work a five and a half day week, only to face the problem of poor remuneration. More funding is needed to avoid rapid closures of the postal network, which Mr McElwaine says have the potential to do irreparable damage to rural communities.
A report from Grant Thornton published in May and produced for the Irish Postmasters’ Union found that An Post currently provides €344-€776 million in annual social and economic value to Irish communities.
An Post, which manages the postal system, is fully self-funded and sustainable, however Ireland’s post office network is predominantly composed of independent individual businesses run by contractors under licence from An Post.
There are 933 branches in the postal network, with the vast majority – 888 – operated by independent postmasters who operate as small businesses. 1,409 people are employed across the network.
The postmasters who are still working in the sector need urgent help, the McElwaines say.
“Our community here has been so supportive of us, and they are annoyed that we feel we have no choice but to close.”
‘LACK OF SUPPORT FROM THE STATE AND AN POST’
“I suppose the other side of this is that most people don’t understand the pressure that’s involved for those running post offices. You’re having to consistently work a five and a half-day week on a model that cuts your wage because your footfall may be down.
“The issue is the lack of support from the State and An Post in 2025, when seven post offices on our peninsula have already been streamlined down to just one. If that wasn’t bad enough, there’s just been a total lack of imagination and creativity in trying to help us stay open.
“One of the huge things over the years which have helped us has been the unwavering support of my father. Even after he retired, he was always there to help us. We could always rely upon him and he was always there when we needed help to keep things going. He was the reason many times that we were able to have a break and go on holidays,” Ronan adds.
The Government, the couple feels, could have encouraged more services through Irish post offices, which would increase transactions.
“Existing and future post offices are unfortunately going to face the same issues that we have. The Government needs to be pushing for more business for post offices, including new services. An Post also needs to step up.”