An Post
italic=unset is the state-owned provider of postal services in the Republic of Ireland. An Post provides a "universal postal service" to all parts of the country as a member of the Universal Postal Union. Services provided include letter post, parcel service, deposit accounts, Express Post, and EMS.
Background
An Post, the Irish postal administration, came into being in 1984 when, under the terms of the Postal & Telecommunications Services Act of 1983, the Post Office services of the Department of Posts and Telegraphs were divided between An Post and Telecom Éireann, the telecommunications operator now called Eir. At its inception, during the early years of the Irish Free State, the Department of Posts and Telegraphs was the country's largest department of state, and its employees constituted the largest sector of the civil service.Prior to this, the Post Office in Ireland had been under the control of various Postmasters General, Irish and British, with the appointment of Evan Vaughan as postmaster in Dublin in 1638, generally accepted as the date for the establishment of a semi-formal postal system in Ireland. Oliver Cromwell's Postal Act of 1657 created a combined General Post Office for the three kingdoms of Ireland, Scotland, and England; the position was affirmed by Charles II and his parliament by the Post Office Act of 1660.
Today An Post remains one of Ireland's largest employers but it has undergone considerable downsizing. In 2014, all parts of An Post made a profit for the first time in eight years. As of 2018 there were approximately 1,100 An Post offices and over 100 postal agents across the Republic of Ireland.
The Irish government announced the introduction of a postcode system, Eircode, in Ireland from 2008 though An Post was against the system at the time, saying it was unnecessary. The introduction of the postcode system took place on 13 July 2015, after almost a decade of delays.
All parcel post arriving in Ireland passes through An Post's mail centre in Port Laoise, where customs officials are on duty to inspect it.
An Post adopted its current logo on 14 December 2018. On branded signage, individual post offices are labelled Oifig an Phoist or 'Post Office'.
Subsidiaries and joint ventures
An Post is involved in a number of joint venture operations and also has several subsidiaries. It has complete ownership of some of these, while it is part-owner of others, such as the An Post National Lottery Company and the Prize Bond Company Limited.An Post National Lottery Company
An Post held the licence granted by the Minister for Finance to run the National Lottery through its subsidiary, An Post National Lottery Company until February 2014. All employees of An Post National Lottery Company were seconded from An Post, and as such were employed and paid by An Post rather than by the subsidiary. Since 2014, the National Lottery has been operated by Premier Lotteries Ireland, in which An Post is a stakeholder.An Post Transaction Services
In 2003, An Post set up a new division to run its post office and transaction services business, entitled An Post Transaction Services or PostTS. It rebranded its post offices network as "Post Office" or "Oifig an Phoist" with a new, white-and-red logo, and introduced banking services in conjunction with Allied Irish Banks. This followed the introduction of a service whereby newsagents could provide some Post Office services. This service, entitled PostPoint and operated as subsidiary of An Post, was originally formed in 2000 to sell mobile phone top-ups over-the-counter to Eircell subscribers.In 2005 PostTS sold its foreign operations. The rebranding effort was partially reversed due to criticism, with the traditional An Post logo restored to Post Offices. The original PostTS shop front design which featured predominantly English branding "Post Office" with the location in English, has also been replaced with the Irish language "Oifig an Phoist", with the location in both Irish and English.
Between 2005 and 2006, An Post sold its interest in the Post TS UK and An Post Transaction Services businesses to Alphyra, for a reported €59.3m.
Geodirectory
Jointly established by An Post and Ordnance Survey Ireland, Geodirectory is a service that provides a database of buildings and addresses in the Republic of Ireland, as well as their geolocation details. It holds records for 2.2 million properties that receive post. GeoDirectory assigns each property its own individual "fingerprint" – a unique, verified address in a standardised format, together with a geocode which identifies every property in the country. Geodirectory also operates a mobile app called GeoFindIT.Postbank
On 5 October 2006 An Post signed an agreement for the creation of a joint venture with Fortis to provide financial services through the Post Office network. This joint venture with BNP Paribas was created to offer financial products and services to the Irish market, including daily banking, savings products, insurance, mortgages, and credit cards. PostPoint and the company's insurance business, One Direct, was to become part of the new company, with access to the Post Office network. In April 2007 a press launch was held for the new bank, which is to be known as Postbank. By February 2010, the closure of the Postbank unit had been announced, and the operation was wound down by the end of December 2010.Some counter business for AIB and Ulster Bank can be conducted at post offices and all counter business for Danske Bank must be as that bank does not operate its own branches.
Postbus
Between 1982 and 2004 the company operated a postbus route linking Ennis with parts of County Clare.Television licensing
is administered by An Post. It is responsible for the collection of revenue, inspection, and prosecution in cases of non-payment of the licence on behalf of the state.Developments
In 2009, An Post sponsored a postcard project, called "C Both Sides", which ran for a year, with the public being invited to create postcards on different themes.In February 2012, the Commission for Communications Regulation launched legal proceedings against An Post over the quality of its service. An Post said it was "puzzled" by the decision.
In August 2018, it was announced that all post offices serving communities of fewer than 500 people were to be closed, with the exception of those on offshore islands. This resulted in 159 closures.