{"id":2244,"date":"2021-08-27T22:12:28","date_gmt":"2021-08-27T22:12:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/legalblog.ie\/?p=2244"},"modified":"2021-08-29T22:42:50","modified_gmt":"2021-08-29T22:42:50","slug":"post-office-background","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/post-office-background\/","title":{"rendered":"Post Office Background"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_63 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title \" >Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/post-office-background\/#Background\" title=\"Background\">Background<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/post-office-background\/#Functions_and_Organisation\" title=\"Functions and Organisation\">Functions and Organisation<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/post-office-background\/#Personnel\" title=\"Personnel\">Personnel<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/post-office-background\/#Department_of_Posts_and_Telegraphs\" title=\"Department of Posts and Telegraphs\">Department of Posts and Telegraphs<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/post-office-background\/#Branches\" title=\"Branches\">Branches<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/post-office-background\/#Broadcasting\" title=\"Broadcasting\">Broadcasting<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/post-office-background\/#Modern_Form_An_Post\" title=\"Modern Form; An Post\">Modern Form; An Post<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Background\"><\/span>Background<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The first postal service in Ireland commenced in the 17th century. A 1711 Act unified the post office for England Scotland and Wales and Ireland. Later, an independent and distinct Irish post office evolved, centred in Dublin controlled by its own Postmasters General.<\/p>\n<p>In 1831, the Irish and British post offices were amalgamated. In 1835 the Post Office took over the running of the money order department and prepaid registration of letters and packets. In 1861, the Savings Bank was opened.<\/p>\n<p>In 1870, the telegraph system was taken over by the Post Office. Parcel Post began in 1883. In 1912, the Post Office took over the telephone system. The power to license wireless transmitting and receiving apparatus and collect fees were vested in the Postmaster General in 1904.<\/p>\n<p>Under the Ministers and Secretaries Act, the function of the Post Office and the Postmaster-General was transferred to a new governmental department, the Department of Post and Telegraph. In the earlier years of the State, \u00a0the radio broadcasting services were operated directly other the auspices of the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs<\/p>\n<p>In the middle of the last century, the Department of Post and Telegraph was, after CIE, the largest employer in the state.\u00a0 There were over 14,000 employees in the mid-1950s technically comprising half the total personnel of the Civil Service.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Functions_and_Organisation\"><\/span>Functions and Organisation<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The Post Office has administered a range of functions on behalf of the government.\u00a0 In addition to the postal service, telegrams, and telephone services, it acted as \u00a0Post Office Bank and dealt with most state pensions, allowances, coupons, and rations.<\/p>\n<p>They dealt with the collection and payment of many licenses and the payment of customs duties on parcel post. Army and Navy allowances were paid through the Post Office.<\/p>\n<p>The Post Office comprised of the General Post Office, 55 head offices in classification of 1 to 5 and over 2,000 sub-offices.\u00a0 The principal distinction was between cash account and non-cash account offices.<\/p>\n<p>The former which provided money order facilities were supervised by the accountant&#8217;s branch and immediately controlled by the postmaster of the district. It supplied funds and stamps necessary for business and conducted inspections. Non-cash account offices were under the surveillance of the postmaster of the district but were accounted for differently.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Personnel\"><\/span>Personnel<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Each head office comprised a postmaster and a civil service staff.\u00a0 Each was responsible to the Department of Post and Telegraphs for his district.\u00a0 The postmaster was responsible for ensuring the postal system extended through the country.\u00a0 He organised postmen, local sorting offices, provided staff in Post Office and for telegraph and telephone working.<\/p>\n<p>The Dublin Postal District and Controller had a staff of over 1,200.\u00a0 Telephone and telegraph services in the Dublin area were under the control of a separate section.<\/p>\n<p>It was an objective of the State to have affordable postal services throughout the country. There was intense competition for sub-postmasterships.\u00a0 The franchise attracted more customers to a shop premises and this would compensate for the remuneration, which itself might not have been sufficient.<\/p>\n<p>The sub-postmaster was not a civil servant, but a contractor paid on the basis of the volume of business contracted in the Post Office, which was usually also a shop.\u00a0 The postmaster was subject to the Department&#8217;s regulations.<\/p>\n<p>He was obliged to provide the necessary staff and equipment.\u00a0 He required the necessary competence, repute, and financial standing. A Post Office might not be used for certain other businesses including in particular the sale of liquor.<\/p>\n<p>The Post Office was advanced in admitting women to the public service.\u00a0 Many women were employed as telephonists, counter clerks and telegraphists.\u00a0 The proportion of women in the Department, savings banks and other areas was significantly higher than in other areas of the civil service.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Department_of_Posts_and_Telegraphs\"><\/span>Department of Posts and Telegraphs<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The head of the Post Office was the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs being one of the offices\/ministers\/departments established by the Ministers and Secretaries Act 1924.\u00a0 The functions formerly exercised by the British Postmaster General in the Irish Free State were transferred to the Department.<\/p>\n<p>The Department dealt with the decisions of policy and the matters which cannot be settled at a lower level.\u00a0 There was an establishment branch, a telecommunications branch; mails, buildings and supplies branch; general correspondence and survey branches.<\/p>\n<p>The policy of the Post Office was subject to parliamentary approval.\u00a0 It operated under statute.<\/p>\n<p>Payment was not out of revenue but out of monies voted by the D\u00e1il.\u00a0 However, its revenue was handed over to the exchequer. Capital expenditure was approved by the Oireachtas from time to time.\u00a0 Sums advanced were repaid by annuities.\u00a0 Losses by loss-making services were offset by profits from other services.<\/p>\n<p>The Post Office was conferred with a monopoly.\u00a0 It sought to operate on a commercial basis.\u00a0 A surplus or deficit was surrendered to the State.\u00a0 In most of the years or the first 30-years of the State, there was a surplus although a net deficit developed over time.<\/p>\n<p>Laterally the telephone service became the most profitable part of the business. Subject to minor exceptions the monopoly extended to telephone, the transmission of letters, telegrams, wireless telegraphy, and wireless telephony.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Branches\"><\/span>Branches<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The Telecommunications branch planned and supervised telegraphs, telephones, wireless development and maintained the principal telephone exchanges.\u00a0 It was linked with the transatlantic cable stations at Waterville and Valentia and the wireless station at Valentia and Malin Head.\u00a0 The branch was also responsible for telegraphic traffic with the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n<p>The mails buildings and supplies branch oversaw inland and foreign-mail services.\u00a0 It contracted with transport entities for carriage by road, ship and air including railways.\u00a0 It dealt with conventions with foreign states, Post Office premises and supplies.<\/p>\n<p>The general correspondence and survey dealt with miscellaneous activities including saving schemes, social welfare pensions, postal and money orders.\u00a0 The branch included a survey office that carried out inspections of provincial offices.<\/p>\n<p>There was also a legal and medical branch and an accountants branch. The accountant&#8217;s branch superintended the department&#8217;s estimates and managed elements of the Post Office Savings Bank.<\/p>\n<p>The stores department branch managed physical purchases and storage of apparatus, material and equipment and other contracts.\u00a0 It also placed contracts for a whole range of government services including the Army and Gardai. Formerly the storage branch maintained a Post Office factory in which certain parts were manufactured or repairs carried out to telegraph and telephone apparatus.<\/p>\n<p>The engineering branch dealt with telegraphic and telephone construction as well as wireless broadcasting.\u00a0 This included the acquisition and maintenance of the equipment and apparatus.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Broadcasting\"><\/span>Broadcasting<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The 1923 White paper on broadcasting proposed that a broadcasting company under a government licence should be established to operate the services with the capital being provided by industry.\u00a0 The special committee wished to prevent the service from becoming a monopoly in private hands.<\/p>\n<p>The Wireless Telegraphy Act 1926 provided for the regulation and control of wireless telegraphy in land, sea and air.\u00a0 It covered all kinds of broadcasting and signalling stations and services.<\/p>\n<p>Radio Eireann was established with medium wave transmitters in Dublin, Cork and Athlone together with a shortwave broadcast service directed overseas. The broadcasting service was in manual mode which was accounted for through the Post Office by the secretary of the Post Office.<\/p>\n<p>The licence fees were collected through Post Offices and the Department administered certain other matters on behalf of the broadcasting service.\u00a0 The service was effectively loss-making and publicly subsidised. The aim was to make the broadcasting services self-sufficient over time.\u00a0 Income came from sponsored advertising programs and licence fees.<\/p>\n<p>The broadcasting service was administered by a director, assistant director. program officers, engineering staff, studio supervisors, some announcers, \u00a0an orchestra on a contract basis and others. Contact was maintained between the director and secretary&#8217;s office.\u00a0 Engineers and members of the Post Office engineering staff and under the direction of the engineering chief.<\/p>\n<p>In 1960, a statutory body was established with responsibility for \u00a0States sound and television broadcasts. Radio Telefis Eireann (RTE). See the separate sections on broadcasting.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Modern_Form_An_Post\"><\/span>Modern Form; An Post<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>An Post is the State postal company established in 1984. Formerly the \u00a0Government Department of Posts and Telegraphs provided a monopoly postal and telecommunication system.<\/p>\n<p>The 1983 Act created two new companies which took over the existing postal and telecommunications systems. See the separate chapters in relation to telecommunications. The telecommunications company was eventually privatised, and the telecommunication market was opened up substantially to competition.<\/p>\n<!--themify_builder_content-->\n<div id=\"themify_builder_content-2244\" data-postid=\"2244\" class=\"themify_builder_content themify_builder_content-2244 themify_builder tf_clear\">\n    <\/div>\n<!--\/themify_builder_content-->\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Background The first postal service in Ireland commenced in the 17th century. A 1711 Act unified the post office for England Scotland and Wales and Ireland. Later, an independent and distinct Irish post office evolved, centred in Dublin controlled by its own Postmasters General. In 1831, the Irish and British post offices were amalgamated. In [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2244"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2244"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2300,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2244\/revisions\/2300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}