A MAJOR warning has been issued for hundreds of social welfare recipients who are set to be affected by a change in their collection process.
The An Post office in Leenane, Co Galway, is set to close permanently at 3pm on Friday, July 11.
This means that from July 11 onwards, the social welfare recipients will be unable to collect their payments at the post office.
Those receiving payments must receive them from Letterfrack from Monday, July 14, onwards.
A customer notice issued by the post office reads: “Leenane Post Office will permanently close on Friday 11th July 2025 at 15:00.
“All DSP payments will be available at Letterfrack Post Office, The Country Store, Letterfrack from Monday 14th July 2025.
“All other Post Office services are available at Letterfrack Post Office or from a Post Office of your choice.
“An Post would like to take this opportunity to thank all our customers for their continued support.”
However, recipients must be aware that Letterfrack is a 20-minute drive from Leenane, meaning those without a car will have to figure out a way to get there.
Bus Eireann offers bus services between Letterfrack and Leenane, but only comes every two hours, meaning recipients would have to wait for nearly two hours until their next bus home.
The permanent closure is due to the Postmaster in Leenane is leaving the business and it has been unable to find another contractor, Galway Bay FM reports.
It was revealed that An Post hopes to provide a Postpoint terminal at the local shop in the area, which will provide some level of service around financial services and billpay, making it easier for the locals.
NEW CHILD BENEFIT PAYMENT
Meanwhile, Dara Calleary has confirmed his department is “working on” a targeted new Child Benefit payment as part of efforts to tackle child poverty.
However, he warned that an “unintended consequence” of a new system of child income supports could result in a “lower payment than they are currently getting”.
The Fianna Fail TD said the Department of Social Protection has to ensure “people cannot lose out” on the supports they are benefiting from now.
When asked by Independent TD Barry Heneghan for an update on the Department of Social Protection’s exploration of the introduction of a targeted second-tier Child Benefit payment, Calleary said addressing child poverty is a “key priority” for the Government.
He added: “That is why the programme for Government includes a range of measures to support children and their families.
“One such commitment is to explore a targeted child benefit payment and examine the interaction this would have with existing targeted supports to reduce child poverty.
“Existing supports include the working family payment and the child support payment.”
The proposed Child Benefit shake-up would lift some 55,000 children out of income poverty and 25,000 from consistent poverty, according to a recent report from the Economic and Social Research Institute.
Social welfare recipients have been warned over the closure of the post office[/caption]
