The decline of rural ireland is a policy not a mistake

The recent uproar over the closure of the post office in Terryglass is well meant but well-meaning
individuals should look internally and look at the parties that they have voted into power and how
those same power brokers have overlooked the lack of a proper spatial strategy in the country to the
detriment of properly funded rural services.
When Fianna Fil were last in power their recklessness broke the country forcing us to go cap in
hand to the I M F who told us they would bail us and our main banks out if we decimated our public
services. This meant commodifying services that people always treasured as paid for in their general
taxation. In other words, if a local service could make a profit {for a millionaire in some far flung
place} well then it was delivered with gusto if however you live a Rural place like say lower Ormond
your local service was unlikely to make a profit so then the narrative is that it had to go.
Fine Gael are of course neo liberal lovers of mega corporations where executives pay themselves
handsomely but those same executives that Fine Gael put first would be very unlikely to find
Terryglass post office on a map so dont be expecting Fine Gael to come riding over the hill with
policies that will protect loss making Rural services any time soon. Fine Gael and their counterparts
in the last government, the Labour Party brought us the fantastically named (Putting people first
policy) which closed local area offices in Tipperary including Borrisokane and ravaged local
democracy so that only those with the deepest pockets would have any chance of getting elected
into the future.
It was also the Labour Party under Joan Burton who forced people to take their business away from
local post offices when she insisted on the department of social welfare to get people to have their
social welfare paid into the bailed-out banks instead of the post office network who had cost the
state nothing. This was a huge blow for rural post offices like Terryglass where the state intervened
in the business of the Postal service.
An Post is now going through difficult times providing daily postal services to Rural areas decimated
of their populations who travel further and further away to seek employment due to the imbalanced
spatial strategy which promotes the Dublin region against all other parts of the state. In fact, An Post
and the C W U are currently negotiating a once off staff reduction in Collection and Delivery which
will see up to 300 Post people across the country losing their jobs (sure we cant be pumping money
into loss making companies I hear you say what about the private banks who had 120 billion of
taxpayers money pumped into them I say in response). You and the electorate can take some blame
for constantly supporting supporting governments who have bought into Neo Liberalism above
public services. Without votes these people could not and will not destroy our public services.IT
really is UP TO YOU !
Yours sincerely Cllr. Seamie Morris 09/10/17 0872859125