*Photograph by Tom Micks
CLARECASTLE’s new post office officially opened on Tuesday morning, maintaining the service has been heralded as a big win for the village.
After generations, the post office has moved from Main Street where it was operated by the Barry family to Church View and its new home of Kane’s Centra.
Eighteen months ago, the Kanes acquired Centra from the Deasy family who had led the thriving business for over two decades. The store took on a new dimension with the addition of a post office to the front of the shop.
Elaina Fitzgerald Kane who alongside her husband Myles own Kane’s Centra, said their rural background had them well aware the importance of the post office to local communities. “It was flagged to us that there was a change coming that the post office has it has been known for over a quarter of a century in Clarecastle and such a central part in the hub of the community was closing. We are really mindful coming from a rural background as to how important post offices are from a social perspective, the logistics and everyday things people need in terms of fulfilling their lives and the notion that it may not continue in our community was something we couldn’t bear.
“A lot of people locally helped us in getting to this point, I’m delighted to have An Post Clarecastle as part of Centra Clarecastle, we’ve always been serving the community since we arrived so this is just a little bit more. As you can see from the people queuing up, it is all ages, so many different profiles and it is a critical service in communities and it is brilliant to be able to retain it, to open it and it is something you would love to see mirrored across other communities in the country”.
According to Elaina who is Director of Fitzgerald’s Woodlands House Hotel & Spa in Adare, they made an investment in the region of €100,000 to get the post office operational. “It is sizable but if you want to be part of the community sometimes these are the things you have to do. We are here with a long-term focus, it is with that in mind, we didn’t have to stop and think about it, we just knew it had to happen and the support has made it easier, you need support in so many ways, from a financial perspective, from your team, the operations of it, the sense of local community, you need it from An Post, from Centra, a lot of people come together and great local political will to keep it in the community which has been critical in getting us to this point. We’ve opened today, we still have a nice bit to do but you have to open the door, get a feel for what is happening and take it from there”.
There is a staff of thirty for the Centra store in Clarecastle between full and part-time employees, she said. “We’ve been here for the last eighteen months, we bought if from the Deasy’s who have been established here for decades. It is fantastic to be able to buy and be invested in something that is so important in terms of the fabric of the community in terms of Centra Clarecastle, a fantastic team worked with the Deasys and continue to work with us, we’ve new team members, two generations of some families working with us and even people who worked here before that are now back working with us. It is a lovely community to work with and to serve which is what it is all about, our team have fantastic local knowledge, in many respects we are still learning but it is brilliant and it has really helped us pave the way”.
Chairperson of Clarecastle Tidy Town’s and the Clarecastle/Ballyea Heritage & Wildlife Group, Christy Leyden paid tribute to Gerry McMahon who retired as postmaster last week, “It is absolutely critical for the village that we have our post office, the traditional post office from the Barry family has been there forever and it is really sad to see the door closing there, I was there to see Gerry closing the door on Friday, Gerry has given outstanding service as have the Barry family to the people of Clarecastle for nearly 100 years. It is great to see it kept, we’re delighted to see it here, it is crucial for any village to hold the post office”.
Christy told The Clare Echo, “The post office is massive for us, they are queuing up to get in this morning, we wish Myles and the Kane family all the best, it is great they have it, it is in a very traditional shop and people will say there is better parking but still we hate to see it going from the main street”.
Cllr Tom O’Callaghan (FF) was among those centrally involved in keeping a post office in Clarecastle. “This is massive, I’m absolutely thrilled. As a public representative, I’m very conscious of our infrastructure that we provide, my family are Lissycasey based and they lost their post office in 2018, an unmerciful against the public who were totally against what they were proposing at the time, they seem to think this was saving money but the end result was that it was shutting down a community service. Because of lobbying from myself and others, consistently over the last number of years we’ve been able to get support from the Government, this is a typical example of us reopening post offices, this is a good news story for the area”.
Gerry McMahon’s role was also acknowledged by Cllr O’Callaghan “he gave fantastic service for thirty five years as postmaster, it was very emotional and I felt it, when you are dealing with people you become friends and family, you’re part of the community. I’m delighted for Myles and Elaina, they have made a big investment, it is now creating a lovely centre in our village, this village now has its own community based group which will focus on driving this whole area, we have the Roche site for potential investment, we are going to have our own independent identity to our town, this is another cog that is so incredibly important, let’s look at opening post offices, we now have good news, we have Sixmilebridge opening a new post office with a new operator got and Carrigaholt. Good things are coming and thankfully Government are beginning to wake up”.
