Fianna Fáil Councillor Cormac Devlin has raised concerns that the industrial action at An Post will hit up to 82,000 social welfare recipients who receive their payments by post.

The Dún Laoghaire candidate is calling on the Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton to immediately outline contingency plans to ensure that these people receive their State supports on time.

An Post has instructed customers not to post any mail or parcels until further notice following industrial action at its regional mail centres. This has the potential to affect up to 4.5% of all payments made by the Department of Social Protection.

Councillor Devlin said, “This industrial action will affect up to 82,000 individuals in receipt of cheque payments from the Department of Social Protection. Around 68,000 of these who receive their Jobseekers’ payments by cheque may be affected. Almost 9,300 customers who receive illness, disability and caring benefits may also be affected.

“This issue is causing significant distress to people in receipt of these weekly payments. Any delay has the potential to cause considerable hardship for some. I am calling on Minister Joan Burton to immediately confirm what contingencies her department has in place to deal with this issue,” concluded Councillor Devlin.