Legal advice which has permitted the British Government to grant a five year contract to the UK post office system and to abandon a competitive process was great news for An Post and for the country’s post office network.

This was stated by Marin Harkin MEP when she welcomed the decision of the British government to award a social payments contract to it’s post office system.  “This has to be good news for Ireland’s post offices which have been threatened with losing the contract for the payment of pensions”, she said.

British Government legal advice was that EU law did not prevent the granting of a five year contract to the post offices and it was now up to the Irish government to remove the uncertainty surrounding the future contract for pension payments, she said.

“In announcing this decision the Work and Pensions Secretary said that protecting vulnerable groups required the preservation of a viable post office network and this justified the awarding of a contract outside of the competitive process”, Marian Harkin said.

The Government should immediately obtain legal opinion from the Attorney General and, if it is in accord with the British view, move immediately to assure Ireland’s post offices that their network will continue to service the vulnerable in society and in the process secure their commercial viability, Marian Harkin MEP said.