Tom Neville (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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373. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the number of post office closures each year from 2002 to 2016 to date. [35901/16]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Post Office network comprises an extensive range of offices throughout the country, most of which are operated by postmasters under contract to An Post.

Given the nature of the network, at any point in time there may be a number of Post Offices that are temporarily closed due to factors such as retirement, death in service, etc. In such circumstances, post offices may subsequently re-open under a contract with a new postmaster. This closing and re-opening could potentially straddle two different calendar years.

With regard to the number of post offices that have closed over the period in question, it has not been possible to compile the information requested by the Deputy in the time available. I will arrange to forward a comprehensive list of post office closures to the Deputy shortly, within the timeframe set down in Standing Orders.