By Kerri O’Neill
When An Post announced recently the closure of 160 post offices as part of their nationwide restructuring programme, the people of Glounthaune could be forgiven for not considering that their local office was one of the selected offices.
Nobody was more surprised than Geraldine O’Neill, postmistress at Glounthaune and Little Island, when she received a voluntary redundancy offer for the Glounthaune office. The outcome of accepting this would be the closure of the Glounthaune office and the subsequent transfer of business to the neighbouring office of Little Island or perhaps Glanmire. This would signal the end of 130 plus years of postal history in Glounthaune.
An extract from Guys Postal Directory (1886) shows that “Queenstown Junction Railway Station is the Telegraph Office and the Postmaster is Patrick Barry” It also states that the station is a half mile from the village of Glounthaune, built in 1819, incidentally making the village 200 years old next year.
The directory shows that in 1914 the post office was located in Aherns Cottage, subsequently McCarthys, at the beginning of the Back Road, Mary Ahern being the postmistress.
Sometime later it was relocated to Glounthaune Village, originally on the southside in the capable hands of Peter (Sonny) O’Sullivan. Subsequently in 1946 it moved to the “house with the arch” by the village steps, where Josephine Murray presided until her retirement. Her daughter Siobhan took over for a few years and whilst waiting for a new office to open, business was conducted for a brief period at the Community Centre, the former Glounthaune National School.
On September 1, 1986, the Post Office found a new home at Fitzpatrick’s Shop. Geraldine O’Neill, who had some years previously resigned from her teaching position at Knockraha National School to take over the family business, was appointed postmistress.
January, 2001, saw the office relocate to its current premises, where, to-date, it continues to be a focal point for the community, providing not only the services required from a post office but also a place of social connection, conversation and relationship for local people; in essence, a sense of community.
Geraldine O’Neill was born and raised in Glounthaune and she has many fond childhood memories of being sent to the post office “on a message” for her mother. She can still recall the day her mother sent her “up the road” from the shop to get a licence for their dog. When questioned by Mrs Murray what breed the dog was, she didn’t have the answer, being only nine years old at the time. Further enquiries from Mrs Murray were only serving to frustrate her and eventually Geraldine suggested with great enthusiasm that Mrs Murray should walk down the road to the shop herself and take a look at the dog. Mrs. Murray told everyone in the parish that story, much to Geraldine’s mortification!
Accepting a redundancy offer and closing the local post office was never going to be an option for Geraldine O’Neill, a person whose life has revolved around serving her local community, not only through her businesses but also through her support of many local organisations, fundraisers etc, often quietly done.
Despite the diminishing number of people availing of the services, she is committed to keeping the office open for now. An Post have made it quite clear that if ever the day comes in the future that she decides to close the office they will not seek to reopen it. She urges people to reflect on the consequences of losing their local post office, indeed any local business; spending money is what keeps any local business open, not sentiment!
Whoever would believe that there might have come a day in 2018 that the local post office would shut its door permanently? It would be a very sad day for Glounthaune.
“Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine”
