We are informed that relief postmen and women are trained to return post to the postal centre (eg Limerick) if there is any obstruction or animal in their way of delivering post in rural Ireland.

If and when this occurs for any slight reason, post is returned to the centre unknown to the unfortunate rural householder and, after considerable time, the envelope is returned to the sender with, in many cases, “incorrect address” written on it although it may be correct.

This may be disastrous for the householder as the letters may contain cheques, bank statements, important documents and, in our case, health cover invoices (we nearly lost health cover due to this – I saved it by ringing and asking why they had not requested a renewal payment).

The bank stopped sending statements and it took a year to persuade them to do so again only for the same thing to re-occur! I do not do online banking because, although I have never done it, my bank account got “hacked” and the gardaí state that it will have to be investigated by Interpol and they will take three years to phone the receiving bank in the UK.

An Post tell us to buy a post box for €70 which should be erected at the gate. This is fine only with rural crime thriving, post boxes were robbed – for those with a long driveway, it is much more likely to happen.

Why can’t post be left at the local post office and the householders informed it is there for collection.

After all, the cost of postage has rocketed over the past few years and we don’t deserve this treatment in rural Ireland. It undoes the great work done by the regular postmen and women.