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It’s estimated that savings of up to €63m can be made over five years by providing motor tax renewal at post offices. Photo: iStock

By Lisa O’Donnell

Savings of up to €63m can be made over five years by providing Motor Tax renewal at Post Offices, according to the Irish Postmasters’ Union (IPU).

The IPU is encouraging the Government to support this reform in the October budget, as they consider it the single most obvious and beneficial additional government service that could be delivered through An Post, both saving taxpayers' money and bringing additional businesses to post offices.

A report by Grant Thornton on the future of the post office network found that moving the renewal of motor tax to post offices could save the taxpayer €63m over five years, with the annual saving reaching €27m by the fifth year.

The report estimated that there is a transaction cost of €15-€20 for motor tax renewal. However, postmasters are offering to deliver this service for just €2 per transaction.

RANGE OF SERVICES

IPU president, Ciaran McEntee said that post offices are committed to expanding the range of government and consumer services they provide and are ideally positioned to do this, with a network of 1,150 offices across the country.

“Many people do not realise the ever-increasing range of services available through the post office,” he said. “As well as the standard postal services and welfare payments, post offices now provide Passport Express, NTMA savings, property tax, Garda fixed fines, dog licenses and banking services.

“We know there is strong support for keeping post offices at the heart of the community and postmasters want to work with government, financial service providers and customers to provide the products and services that will make this happen.”

Mr McEntee added that post offices are capable of providing this service due to their flexibility and state of the art IT system, and used the Passport Express system as an example of what the post office network can do.

“We want people to support their local post office by using it. Providing motor tax renewal is a meaningful step towards strengthening the post office network – and it would save the taxpayer significant money,” he concluded.

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