Emer Currie

Overall sentiment: 0.08
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While much of today's focus is rightly on rural closures, I want to speak about a different challenge, namely, delivery pressures in rapidly growing urban areas like Dublin West. In my community the problem is not the loss of a post office today; it is whether the system can keep up with demand. Parcel volumes across Dublin West have increased by 42% in the last year. At the same time, the number of delivery addresses has grown by 4%. Letter volumes may be down by 7% but that does not relieve pressure when serving more homes and handling far more parcels. We are adding homes at a serious pace. In 2025 alone, 1,328 new dwellings were completed in Dublin West. That is 1,328 additional front doors requiring daily service on top of the thousands delivered in recent years. The reality is simple: more doors means more packages, which means more pressure and my constituents are feeling it. I am hearing from families who are waiting weeks for deliveries that were repeatedly marked out for delivery but never arrived; from first-time buyers who are anxiously watching the tracking on mortgage-related documents because they are worried that delays could affect completion; from parents whose Christmas presents turned up long after the holidays, and from residents who are waiting on important medical items and simply cannot understand why parcels sit in sorting facilities for extended periods. In newer estates and apartment complexes, neighbours are comparing experiences and realising that this is not a one-off. It is widespread. I acknowledge the work of our postmen and postwomen, who are the front-line staff in An Post. This is about whether resourcing and infrastructure has kept pace with population growth. Dublin West is expanding at speed. Thousands of homes have been built with more coming. When housing growth is this rapid, public services must scale with it, including postal delivery. An Post has a universal service obligation. Urban communities are entitled to reliability and consistency just as much as rural communities are entitled to access. I am asking the Minister of State to engage directly with An Post to ensure delivery capacity in Dublin West is urgently reviewed and expanded where necessary. My constituents are not asking for special treatment; they are asking for a postal service that keeps pace with the community it serves.

Sentiment score: 0.08