 Current logo since 14 December 2018 | |
| Company type | State-owneddesignated activity company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Postal services,courier |
| Predecessor | Department of Posts and Telegraphs (1924–1984) |
| Founded | 1 January 1984 |
| Headquarters | |
Area served | Ireland/Worldwide |
Key people | David McRedmond (CEO) Carol Bolger (Chairperson) |
| Revenue |  €892million (2019)[1] |
| €41.9million (2019)[1] | |
| €143million (2019)[1] | |
| Owner | Government of Ireland (100%) |
Number of employees | 11,832 (2019) |
| Subsidiaries | Air Business (AddressPal) |
| Website | anpost.com |
An Post (Irish pronunciation:[ənˠˈpˠɔsˠt̪ˠ]; literally 'The Post') is the state-owned provider ofpostal services inIreland. An Post provides a "universal postal service" to all parts of the country as a member of theUniversal Postal Union. Services provided includeletter post,parcel service,deposit accounts, Express Post (an all-Ireland next-day delivery service), andEMS (international express-mail service).
An Post, the Irishpostal service, came into being in 1984 when, under the terms of the Postal and Telecommunications Services Act 1983, the Post Office services of theDepartment of Posts and Telegraphs (P&T) were divided between An Post andTelecom Éireann, thetelecommunications operator (rebranded as Eircom after privatisation in 1999 and in 2015 asEir). At its inception, during the early years of theIrish Free State, the Department of Posts and Telegraphs was the country's largestdepartment of state, and its employees (most of them postmen) constituted the largest sector of thecivil 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.[2] Oliver Cromwell's Postal Act of 1657 created a combinedGeneral Post Office for the three kingdoms of Ireland, Scotland, and England; the position was affirmed by Charles II and his parliament by thePost Office Act 1660.[2]
As of 2020[update], An Post remains one of Ireland's largest employers but it has undergone considerable downsizing. In 2020, Munster's only sorting centre in Little Island, Cork closed.[citation needed] The closure of individual branches in rural areas has become a significant political issue. In 2014, all parts of An Post made a profit for the first time in eight years.[3] As of 2018 there were approximately 1,100 An Post offices and over 100 postal agents across Ireland.[4]
The Irish government announced the introduction of apostcode system,Eircode, in Ireland from 2008[5] though An Post was against the system at the time, saying it was unnecessary.[6] The introduction of Eircodes took place on 13 July 2015, after almost a decade of delays.[7]
All parcels arriving in Ireland pass through An Post's mail centre inPortlaoise, where customs officials are on duty to inspect them.[8]
An Post adopted its current logo on 14 December 2018; it did not make its first appearance until 13 March 2019.[citation needed] On branded signage, individual post offices are labelledOifig an Phoist or (in English) 'Post Office'.[a]
On 22 June 2023, An Post moved from its historic headquarters in theGeneral Post Office building on O'Connell Street in Dublin to new premises atNorth Wall Quay.[9]
An Post is involved in a number ofjoint venture operations and also has several subsidiaries. It has complete ownership of some of these, while it is part-owner of others, such as theAn Post National Lottery Company and thePrize Bond Company Limited.
An Post held the licence granted by theMinister for Finance to run theNational 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.[10]
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. Itrebranded its post offices network as "Post Office" or "Oifig an Phoist" with a new, white-and-red logo, and introduced banking services in conjunction withAllied Irish Banks. This followed the introduction of a service whereby newsagents could provide some Post Office services.[11] 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 toEircell subscribers.[12]
In 2005 PostTS sold its foreign operations, and the rebranding effort largely reversed, with the traditional An Post logo restored to Post Offices.[citation needed] 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.[13]
Jointly established by An Post andOrdnance Survey Ireland, Geodirectory is a service that provides a database of buildings and addresses inIreland, as well as theirgeolocation details.[14] It holds records for 2.2 million properties that receive post.[15] 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.[16] Geodirectory also operates amobile app called GeoFindIT.[17]
On 5 October 2006 An Post signed an agreement for the creation of a joint venture withFortis to provide financial services through the Post Office network. This joint venture withBNP Paribas was created to offer financial products and services to the Irish market, including daily banking,savings products, insurance, mortgages, and credit cards.[18][19] PostPoint and the company's insurance business, One Direct, was to become part of the new company, with access to the Post Office network.[20] In April 2007 a press launch was held for the new bank, which is to be known as Postbank (legallyPostbank Ireland Limited, to distinguish from other similarly named operations such asDeutsche 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.[21]
Some counter business forAIB,Bank of Ireland andUlster Bank can also be conducted at post offices.
Between 1984 and 2004 the company operated apostbus route linkingEnnis with parts ofCounty Clare.[22]
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.[23]
An Post runs a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) usingVodafone's Irish network.[4]
In 2017, An Post launched AddressPal, apackage forwarding service, operating through its subsidiary Air Business inSt Albans,Hertfordshire,England.[24] The service allows customers to shop from the UK and US using a proxy address allowing items to be delivered to their home address in Ireland.
In October 2018, Air Business relocated to Hatfield Business Park in nearbyHatfield.[25]
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.[26]
In February 2012, theCommission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) launched legal proceedings against An Post over the quality of its service. An Post said it was "puzzled" by the decision.[27]
In August 2018, it was announced that all post offices serving communities of fewer than 500 people (excluding offshore islands) were to be closed.[28] However, three of these 159 branches were "spared" closure following local campaigns atBallinskelligs (Kerry),Cliffoney (Sligo), andBallycroy (Mayo).[29]
the overall profit figures were skewed in 2005 and 2006 by [...] a further €59.3m gain from the company's Post TS UK and An Post Transaction Services businesses, which were sold to Alphyra
The television licence fee is collected by An Post on behalf of the Minister for Department of Communication, Climate Action and the Environment, who has responsibility for broadcasting policy in Ireland
Three out of 159 post offices earmarked for closure have been spared
Media related toAn Post at Wikimedia Commons