Statement in response to ComReg decision

21 December 2005

This decision is inexplicable and unfair given the fact that the company has had only one price increase in the past 14 years and that ComReg is fully aware of the financial losses being incurred by An Post on its Universal Service Obligation (by which mail is delivered to every address, every working day for a uniform tariff).

While An Post welcomes the decision to grant increases in rates for larger and bulkier items, this is overshadowed by the serious financial implications of ComReg’s failure to grant an increase in the basic domestic postal rate.

A price increase was always an essential element of An Post’s Strategic Recovery Plan, as presented to the Minister for Communications in September 2003.

The Board of An Post will consider the matter at its scheduled monthly meeting this Thursday, December 22nd.