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AN POST’S CHIEF executive has stated that parcels arriving to Ireland from the UK are being sent back due to the UK’s post office system not following Brexit-related customs measures.
David McRedmond told RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland today that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the most impacted by local post offices in the UK not enforcing EU-mandated codes for the sorting of parcels.
When these parcels arrive to An Post facilities here, they need to be send back, he explained.
“The cost of us implementing the customs is anywhere of up to €20 million. So it’s been extremely expensive for An Post. It’s difficult for us to calculate the exact cost for British SMEs because we don’t know the value of all the packages. But we’d estimate somewhere between €150 million and €200 million in one year is lost.”
“There could be a shoemaker in Carlisle, who goes into Carlisle post office and there’s a few customers in Ireland, and the post office in the UK isn’t telling them you’ve got to put in these codes,” McRedmond said.
“So we’ve been going blue in the face,” he added.
McRedmond had a letter published in the British newspaper the Financial Times yesterday, in which he said the disruption had caused a 52% decline in postal trade between Britain and Ireland in one year.
Ireland became the first country to implement post-Brexit postal regulations for the UK, with the other 26 EU countries adopting the system from January.
“The EU customs rules are mandatory across the EU so the disruption with Ireland will be repeated with every other EU country, if the necessary actions are not taken,” said McRedmond.
He also blamed the lack of coordination on a “dysfunctional relationship” between the UK’s Royal Mail and the state-run Post Office.
“I think if Royal Mail owned the Post Office, I think that the post offices would have the systems in place. There doesn’t seem to be any incentive for the post office to put the systems in place.”
“I’m just hoping that the British government can see sense, that if they want SMEs to be able to trade with the EU you’ve got a new a new regime, deal with it and put the systems in place,” McRedmond said.
Irish people in the UK sending packages hope for Christmas won’t be affected however, as the issue relates to businesses trading through the Post Office in the UK.
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There is now a trend that our elected leaders are fair game for physical attack. This now has to stop.
The Jobstown water protests where they locked Joan Burton into her car and prevented her leaving seems to have been the start of this kind of protest in Ireland. We also saw knuckle draggers protesting the home of Simon Harris over lockdown. It goes beyond TDs though. I know Principals and teachers being confronted in restaurants or bars over perceived issues in schools. People seem to think they have an entitlement to abuse others. Ridiculous behaviour and we criticise young people for their behaviour??
Now he knows how victims of IRA violence feel.
@Don Hogan: always one has to bring the IRA into it. Can you provide proof that this TD is or ever was a member of the IRA ??
@Don Hogan: does this apply to every member of FF and FG also, who’s origins are from the IRA ?
@Hi Hello: he’s a member of Sinn Fein, which is an experiment in democratic politics by the IRA, part of Danny Morrison’s ‘Armalite and ballot box strategy.’
@John Mulligan: And your poin is ??
I wish him and his family well. There is no excuse or justification for attacks on politicians, or their families. These attacks are on our democracy, and they impact on all of us.
I am also glad to see Deputy Kenny condemning such attacks. I hope he takes that a bit further and fully condemns all the attacks on elected politicians carried out by his party’s armed wing, including the Brighton bombing and other terrorist offences.
Why is this guy being attacked?
@Jon Boylan: seems to be mostly for his stance on asylum seekers in his local town. https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/crime/sinn-fein-td-martin-kennys-20741917
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