An Post's international sorting office relocating to new €15m Dublin hub

The company was responding to a call from Laois TD Brian Stanley who demanded clarity about the future of 200 jobs in Portlaoise.

A spokesperson for An Post responded by saying that in recent months the Portlaoise facility has been at the centre of a major rethinking of the mail processing network.

International parcel processing has been moved the new automated Dublin Parcels Hub (DPH) near Dublin. The spokesperson added that staff from the Revenue Commissioners who have been based in Portlaoise will be moving to the DPH on a phased basis.

The company’s former letter processing facility based in Cork which closed last weekend has now been moved to Portlaoise. All post for and from Munster including much of Leinster outside Dublin is now processed at Portlaoise.

An Post said: “ Portlaoise Mail Centre, having replaced the Cork facility is busier than ever before.

‘’Portlaoise is a central part of An Post’s mail operations and has been key to the success of our business in recent years. These are groundless fears and the cause of undue worry both for our staff and the people of Portlaoise’.

"This is a challenging time for every business and such idle speculation is particularly damaging at a time when An Post, and indeed the country, is dealing with the current crisis.”

An Post said the new €15 million 50,000 sq. metre world-class logistics facility significantly increases An Post’s parcel processing capacity.

The hub’s world-class Beumer Technology enables 13,000 parcels to be processed every hour and transforms the parcels operation from a manual set-up to a 90% automated process. The hub can process 13,000 parcels every hour and transforms the parcels operation from a manual set-up to a 90% automated process.