The convenience of electronic funds transfer (EFT) means consumers are increasingly choosing alternatives to the post office, Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources Noel Dempsey warned at the weekend.
He told the annual conference of the Irish Postmasters' Union (IPU) in Castlebar, Co Mayo, that over 65 per cent of new social welfare recipients were opting for EFT payments mostly as a result of customer choice.
EFT is not currently an option in post offices but "it needs to become an option quickly", the Minister stressed.
Mr Dempsey explained that in recent meetings with the Minister for Family and Social Affairs, Séamus Brennan, they had agreed that all social welfare payment options would receive equal standing on social welfare application forms and for the time being the Department of Family and Social Affairs would not actively promote alternatives to the post office system of payments.
A number of delegates to the conference took issue with Mr Dempsey over his remarks about EFTs and questioned the Government's commitment to the post office sector.
Thurles delegate Ann Stokes disputed the Minister's claim that the customer had a choice and said increasingly they had no choice. Customers were looking for payments to be made in post offices but were being told they had to open a bank account.
Mr Dempsey replied that the Department of Social Welfare said the EFT system costs them five cent per transaction compared to €1.24 for payments through the post office.
"We have to have EFT available through the post offices," Mr Dempsey said. Waterford delegate Tom Martin queried the Minister's assertion that 65 per cent of customers were choosing EFTs.
"My information is that the only choice being given to social welfare recipients is that they are being asked what is their bank account number.
"Then they are told that if they have no bank account they have to open one. It is hard to believe the Government is committed to post offices."
Mr Martin told the Minister that An Post made a profit of €6.5 million this year compared to huge losses in recent years. This had happened because the 1,350 postmasters and postmistresses around the State hadn't had a pay rise for the past three years, the delegate claimed.
Mr Martin continued: "We can't survive on the meagre pittance you call a salary. If you want to close the network down tell the people before the next general election and not after."
Pleas were made at the IPU conference for greater funding from An Post to pay for security at post offices many of which are vulnerable because they are isolated.