There's dismay in the Frenchpark area of Roscommon today over the impending closure of the local Post Office.
The Post Office presently operates from Mitchells Supermarket where Yvonne Mitchell has run the service for the past number of years.
She will be retiring from the position in September.
An Post say they won't be offering the licence to anyone else in the village despite the fact that Yvonne Mitchell's son Padraic would be willing to take over the service.
Speaking on the Let's Talk show today, Padraic says that with services improving at post offices he finds it hard to understand the thinking behind the decision…
"You would have to commend An Post for all the additional services there are at the Post Office. We have banking services in Frenchpark for the first time in I don't know how long and just when that is available and when an additional service comes along, and then you hear of a branch closure, and I'm sure there are several others, I'm sure it's not just Frenchpark, but for me, I just can't get my head around it.
We have all these additional services in the village we never had and now as quick as they come we're going to lose them again."
Local Fine Gael councillor Liam Callaghan says he wants to see the Post Office stay in the village and he believes there'll be strong local opposition to this move to take another service away from rural Ireland.
"I think the parties will take a stance because the political will is there to support the Post Offices and this is separate from the Government as far as I can understand.
This is a decision by An Post and they are taking no instruction from nobody.
But I will be demanding if we have an alternative service or location, that the issue of the postmistress should not be a decoy to bring the service away from Frenchpark."
You can hear Padraic speaking here:
You can hear Liam Callaghan's interview here:
