The Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, said yesterday she would be calling on banks to give direct financial support to post offices in areas where banks are closing branches.
The Minister also said the kind of increases in remuneration the postmasters were looking for could be afforded by An Post.
The new bill-payment agreement with the banking industry was a lifeline for sub-post offices. The initial revenue of £1 million a year through the banks' bill-payment business would soon grow, the Minister predicted.
"I would like that banks would consider giving post offices a kick-start for a limited number of years," Ms O'Rourke said.
The Minister was speaking at the Irish Postmasters' Union (IPU) conference in Tralee at the weekend, where union leaders called strongly for an increase in remuneration "to save the post office network".
The State's 1,800 sub-post offices (only 100 post offices are directly run by An Post) were paid under a Victorian contract system which was regressively structured according to the number of transactions. The more transactions, the less postmasters were paid per transaction, Mr Anthony Clinton, acting general secretary of the IPU, which represents the majority of sub-post offices, said.
Over half were now earning less than the statutory minimum wage, and there were at least 50 vacancies for postmasters.
Ms O'Rourke also highlighted the rising losses faced by not just rural but urban post offices. "In fact the greatest increases in losses will arise from the cities and towns rather than rural sub-post offices," she said. Last year post offices lost £3 million on a turnover of £83 million. The network faced losses of £12 million this year, rising to £28 million in 2004.
But the Government remains committed to the sub-post office network.
The IPU called on both the Government and An Post to live up to the terms of the Act which established An Post, and give the State's 1,800 sub-post offices enough counter-service transactions to sustain them.
Part of An Post's remit under the 1983 Postal and Telecommunications Act was to provide counter services for itself and for government services.