An Post has promised to strive to retain the services of a landmark post office along a major tourist route in Kerry. Anne Lucey reports.
However, the company said it is unlikely the Muckross Post Office, near the Killarney National Park and the major tourist attraction of Muckross House, will remain at its present premises.
Senior officials visited the area yesterday in response to calls to have the post office retained in the community, it is understood.
The closure and resignation of the post mistress, Ms Kathleen Fitzgerald Clifford, last week were due to personal reasons and the company said it was hoping to keep the post office in the community as a multi-agency business if it was viable to do so.
However, it had been advertised as a postal agency. This would serve needs such as stamps, welfare payments and bill payments, the spokesman said.
Tributes have been paid to the Fitzgerald family for their long service to the Killarney and wider tourist community. Mr Brian O'Leary ( FF), the mayor of Killarney, said he heard of the post office closure "with regret".
"The post office at Muckross was a lot more than just a post office, it was a place where people would meet, where messages were left, it was a tourist office where travellers and tourists would get directions to local places, a place where contact, news and events were freely exchanged."
He also called for the retention of the post office in the area.
Mr Jackie Healy-Rae TD (Ind), issued a statement saying the post office had to be retained in the locality. He had contacted the Taoiseach's Department about the retention of the service.
An Post now operates 150 postal agencies, and 92 company offices. Sub-post office numbers have been reduced from 1,816 in 1999 to 1,417 in 2003 and around a thousand of these are automated offering banking and a range of bill payment services.