In Rathmines, some residents eye post office building as location for revived Citizens Information desk

The steel shutters were down on the former Citizens Information office on Wynnefield Road in Rathmines on Wednesday morning.

Its formerly bright blue paint job was now navy. The “For Sale” sign that had been fixed above the doorway is gone.

A second sign used to be up, telling locals that they could still avail of the service over on either Meath Street or Aungier Street. But that’s now gone too, the information already outdated.

These days, the Aungier Street location is only open Monday to Wednesday and the branch in Meath Street was closed last year, and relocated to Usher Street.

That’s a trek, say local residents, who are now pressing to get the service back up and running out of the old art deco post office on the Upper Rathmines Road.

That isn’t something that the South Dublin Citizens Information Service is considering.

But while An Post engages with different groups, including Dublin City Council, to weigh up future uses for the post office, one of its counters on the ground floor could provide a way of bringing the in-person service back to the Dublin 6 area, says former Labour councillor Mary Freehill.

Finding a new home

The Dublin South Citizens Information Service was given notice to vacate its premises on Wynnefield Road in 2022.

The service was unable to source an “alternative, affordable” location in Rathmines, former Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys told the Dáil back in April 2023.

Labour TD Ivana Bacik followed up on this at a Dáil debate on 25 February.

The Labour leader asked Fianna Fáil’s Dara Calleary, the new Minister for Social Protection, about his position on retaining in-person services – and whether the Dublin South Citizens Information Service was still searching for an affordable premises.

It had looked into options that could accommodate staff from both its Rathmines and Meath Street offices, Calleary said.

The Usher Street building was identified and secured in 2024, he said.

It now covers Dublin 2, 4, 6 and 8, Calleary said, while the Carmelite Centre on Aungier Street offered a walk-in service for a limited number of mornings and afternoons each week.

A spokesperson for Citizens Information referred back to Calleary’s reply when asked if they would consider re-opening offices in Rathmines.

But for locals in Rathmines wanting a face-to-face chat, the journey to Usher Street is 30 minutes on a bus, or roughly 3.5 km on foot or bike.

Getting to Usher’s Street isn’t convenient, says Enid O’Dowd, a Citizens Information volunteer who ran a tax help desk in the Rathmines centre. “You might try instead get on the Luas to the part-time service in Dundrum.”

Former Labour councillor Mary Freehill says that in the absence of the Citizens Information office, some locals have been going to the local Garda station to get help filling out forms.

Rathmines needs its Citizens Information office back, Freehill says. One possible home for it is the An Post branch on Upper Rathmines Road, she says.

That building is on the market, and Dublin City Council has been engaging with An Post about possibly buying the property, according to a council report from 10 March.

The council’s idea was to get space in the building for “community-based activities”, the report says. But only the downstairs “retail” space is currently available, it says, and that wouldn’t be a good fit.

The council has reserved the right to negotiate a leasehold interest should the building become available, it says. “If this is to be progressed then the intention would be that part of this space would be for community based activities.”

However, even if the building doesn’t suit the council’s need for a space for community activities, and even if An Post isn’t leaving entirely, the downstairs could host Citizens Information, says Freehill.

“There is the possibility of having one of its counters used for Citizens Information,” she says.

Freehill organised a meeting on 13 February with locals to discuss this matter, she said. “They want a Citizens Information there.”

A spokesperson for An Post said on 7 March that it is their intention to place the building on the market. “In line with An Post’s own Responsible Divestment Policy we have engaged with a number of stakeholders to date on best future use for the building.”

That engagement is ongoing, they said.