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MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS Patrick O’Donovan today refused to rule out the price of a standard postage stamp rising above €2.
His comments come as the cost of a standard stamp in Ireland will rise by 20 cent next month to €1.85, an increase of almost 12% since last year.
“Everybody knows it is not unique to Ireland that the number of letters that have been posted across Europe and indeed across the globe, has collapsed,” Minister O’Donovan told reporters today, arguing that despite this, Ireland remains one of the cheapest countries in Europe to post a letter.
Asked if he could rule out the cost of a standard postage stamp going above €2, the Minister said: “Well, of course I can’t”.
O’Donovan said it is not his role to set the price of stamps and that responsibility for this sits with the board of An Post.
“I’m not going to tell An Post what they can and can’t charge because I would be accused, quite rightly, of interfering in the commercial independence of the body, and I’m not going to do that,” he said.
O’Donovan added that it is “just a fact of life” that demand for mail delivery services has collapsed all over the world.
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