Madam, - The latest proposal from the Department of Social and Family Affairs to encourage recipients of social welfare payments to receive their payments through the bank is to my mind yet another attempt to undermine the post office service and certainly an insensitive attack on the vulnerable.
The post office network has provided not just a valuable service throughout the country but an essential outlet , especially for many citizens who now feel increasingly isolated and marginalised in a society now clearly devoted to values based exclusively on binge, consumerism and dispensability.
That is why I strongly support the campaign urging the Department of Social and Family Affairs to respect the needs of citizens who wish to receive their social welfare payments through a nominated post office. - Yours, etc.,
PETER GAUGHAN, Monkstown, Co Dublin.