Editing An Post (section)

==Background==
[[File:Old an post logo.jpg|thumbnail|An Post's previous logo used from 1 January 1984 to 13 December 2018]]
[[File:An Post Ireland.JPG|thumbnail|An Post postal van]]
[[File:General Post Office Dublin 20060803.jpg|thumb|right|The [[General Post Office (Dublin)|General Post Office]] in Dublin, former headquarters of An Post]]
[[File:Irish lamp box erected by Anpost.jpg|thumb|right|A small An Post post box attached to a telephone or electricity pole, or street light, is usually called a [[lamp box]].]]
[[File:Kincasslagh Post office - geograph.org.uk - 52747.jpg|thumb|Post office in [[Kincasslagh]], [[County Donegal]]]]

An Post, the Irish [[postal service]], came into being in 1984 when, under the terms of the Postal and Telecommunications Services Act 1983, the Post Office services of the [[Minister for Posts and Telegraphs|Department of Posts and Telegraphs]] (P&T) were divided between An Post and [[Telecom Éireann]], the [[telecommunications]] operator (rebranded as Eircom after privatisation in 1999 and in 2015 as [[Eir (telecommunications)|Eir]]). At its inception, during the early years of the [[Irish Free State]], the Department of Posts and Telegraphs was the country's largest [[Department of State (Ireland)|department of state]], and its employees (most of them postmen) constituted the largest sector of the [[Civil service of the Republic of Ireland|civil service]].

Prior to this, the Post Office in Ireland had been under the control of various Postmasters General, Irish and British, with the appointment of Evan Vaughan as postmaster in Dublin in 1638, generally accepted as the date for the establishment  of a semi-formal postal system in Ireland.<ref name="Ferguson 2016">{{Cite book |title=The Post Office in Ireland: An Illustrated History |last=Ferguson |first=Stephen |publisher=[[Irish Academic Press]] |location=Newbridge, County Kildare |date=2016 |isbn=978-1-911024-32-3 |pages=43, 45}}</ref> Oliver Cromwell's Postal Act of 1657 created a combined [[General Post Office]] for the three kingdoms of Ireland, Scotland, and England; the position was affirmed by Charles II and his parliament by the [[Post Office Act 1660]].<ref name="Ferguson 2016" />

{{As of|2020}}, An Post remains one of Ireland's largest employers but it has undergone considerable downsizing. In 2020, Munster's only sorting centre in Little Island, Cork closed.{{citation needed|date=August 2020}} The closure of individual branches in rural areas has become a significant political issue. In 2014, all parts of An Post made a profit for the first time in eight years.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.anpost.ie/AnPost/MainContent/About+An+Post/Careers/ |title=Careers |publisher=An Post |access-date=23 November 2009 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20091124120406/http://www.anpost.ie/AnPost/MainContent/About%2BAn%2BPost/Careers/ |archive-date=24 November 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref> As of 2018 there were approximately 1,100 An Post offices and over 100 postal agents across Ireland.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |url= http://www.anpost.ie/AnPost/MainContent/About+An+Post/Fast+Facts/ |publisher=Anpost.ie |title=About An Post – Fast Facts |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181025152908/http://www.anpost.ie/AnPost/MainContent/About+An+Post/Fast+Facts/ |archive-date=25 October 2018 }}</ref>

The Irish government announced the introduction of a [[Postal code|postcode]] system, [[Eircode]], in Ireland from 2008<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.dcenr.gov.ie/Press+Releases/2005/Dempsey+announces+programme+to+introduce+postcodes+in+Ireland+by+1st+January+2008.htm |title=Dempsey announces programme to introduce postcodes in Ireland by 1st January 2008 |publisher=[[Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources]] |date=23 May 2005 |access-date=6 May 2009 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090413183221/http://www.dcenr.gov.ie/Press%2BReleases/2005/Dempsey%2Bannounces%2Bprogramme%2Bto%2Bintroduce%2Bpostcodes%2Bin%2BIreland%2Bby%2B1st%2BJanuary%2B2008.htm |archive-date=13 April 2009 |url-status=dead |df=dmy }}</ref> though An Post was against the system at the time, saying it was unnecessary.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/0523/post-business.html |title=An Post is against codes plan |publisher=[[RTÉ]] |date=23 May 2005 |access-date=15 January 2007}}</ref> The introduction of Eircodes took place on 13 July 2015, after almost a decade of delays.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.dcenr.gov.ie/Communications/Postal/Postcodes.htm |title=Postcodes |publisher=[[Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources]] |year=2012 |access-date=7 June 2012}}</ref>

All parcels arriving in Ireland pass through An Post's mail centre in [[Portlaoise]], where customs officials are on duty to inspect them.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.independent.ie/business/technology/man-held-here-in-silk-road-dark-web-probe-29859299.html |title=Man held here in Silk Road 'dark web' probe| publisher=Sunday Independent| date=22 December 2013}}</ref>

An Post adopted its current logo on 14 December 2018; it did not make its first appearance until 13 March 2019.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}} On branded signage, individual post offices are labelled {{lang|ga|Oifig an Phoist}} or (in English) 'Post Office'.{{efn|1=In recent signage, "An Post" has been stylized in all-lowercase as "an post"; the 1984–2018 logo simply read "post", with a wavy [[Cancellation (mail)|cancellation]]-mark icon to its left. "Oifig an Phoist" and "Post Office" have logos with the words run together but parts of them boldfaced, as "'''Oifig'''an Phoist" and "'''Post'''Office", respectively.  "An Post" becomes "an Phoist" in the combined form due to [[lenition]] in the [[Irish language]]. While "An Post" literally translates to 'The Post', and "Oifig an Phoist" to 'Office of the Post', those translations are not official names used by the organisation; "Post Office", however, is one.  The longer names primarily refer to any of An Post's storefront locations, rather than to the legal entity, similar to American use of "U.S. Post Office" or simply "Post Office" for locations but "U. S. Postal Service" or "USPS" for the organisation.}}

On 22 June 2023, An Post moved from its historic headquarters in the [[General Post Office, Dublin|General Post Office]] building on O'Connell Street in Dublin to new premises at [[North Wall Quay]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.rte.ie/news/2023/0622/1390585-an-post-gpo/|title=An Post moves headquarters from GPO to new premises|publisher=RTÉ News|date=22 June 2023|accessdate=22 June 2023}}</ref>