People Before Profit Galway representative Adrian Curran has criticised the government announcement that those in receipt of Jobseekers payments will once again need to collect their payments in post offices.
Minister Heather Humphreys made the announcement last week, saying the move will bring additional footfall to post offices as well as helping to combat social welfare fraud.
But Adrian Curran has argued that this particularly disadvantages those in rural areas who need to travel to access a post office, and that it forces welfare recipients to take ‘unnecessary risks’ during an ongoing pandemic.
He said that it was cynical for the government to present ‘forcing jobseekers recipients to travel’ to a post office to access their payments as a move to revive our post office network, given “how its persistent underfunding of our post offices over the last decade led to the closures of many post offices across Co. Galway, particularly in rural areas.”
“With the removal of these essential services and the cutting of bus routes in the county under this government further decimating the already limited public transport network in rural Galway, this measure will only serve to make it unnecessarily hard and prohibitive for jobseekers to receive essential supports to which they are entitled,” said Curran.
“Furthermore, the government’s dropping of Covid restrictions does not mean the danger of the virus has suddenly gone away, and Covid underscores why welfare payments should continue to be paid directly to all recipients, no matter their circumstances.
“It is entirely unnecessary and reckless for any social welfare recipient to be forced to queue up in a public place and risk infection to themselves and those around them during an ongoing pandemic.”
