Post offices which are economically unviable should be kept open because of the important social role they play, especially in rural Ireland, a conference was told at the weekend.
Irish Postmasters Union (IPU) general secretary John Kane told the union's annual conference in Dublin that there was a "very justifiable case" for the provision of payments to post offices, through a public service obligation.
Giving public service obligation status to post offices of a certain size would allow the State to provide funding for them without breaching EU law.
More than 400 sub-post offices have closed since the start of the decade and a review of the remaining network of 1,300 outlets is being carried out by An Post.
"Even the simple opportunity of being able to talk to another human being at the local post office, the local shop or the GAA club may make all the difference as to how a person copes with a crisis in their lives," Mr Kane said.
"The IPU is calling on the incoming government, irrespective of its political make-up, to agree the principle that a public service obligation payment be put in place in order to ensure the survival of much of the existing post office network."
Mr Kane said the Government was responsible for 70 per cent of post office business and any incoming government needed to make a "principled decision" to support the network.
He told conference delegates that postmasters needed certainty as to what services they would provide in the future and An Post needed to show "a lot more realism" as to the costs involved in running a post office.
According to the IPU, some of its members are earning as little as €8,000 a year.
It says the average yearly income for sub-post office owners is €16,000.
The conference at Moran's Red Cow Hotel in Dublin was also told that the loss of the social welfare contract, worth in excess of €50 million annually to An Post, would have serious repercussions for the whole network.
The contract currently allows post offices to provide services such as pension payments to the public. It will be put out to tender next year.
IPU president Pádraig McNamara said if the social welfare contract was lost, reduced further "or if the current level of income for our members from the contract is reduced, then there would be a serious question mark over the whole future of the network".
Minister for Communications Noel Dempsey told the conference that €7 million in compensation had been provided for postmasters following a review of the service earlier this year.
He said that an enhanced severance package deal had also been agreed with postmasters who decided to retire.
Mr Dempsey also told delegates that the new Postbank service, which was launched last week and will be available in 1,000 post offices, would ensure the viability of post offices into the future.
