Irish Minister for Posts & Telegraphs

The Minister for Posts & Telegraphs was responsible for Irelands postal and telecommunications services since the foundation of the State until 1984, the department was one of the largest civil service departments in Ireland. The reform of the sector and department begain, in ernest in 1978 with the creation of the Posts and Telegraphs Review Group. This lead to the creation of the ad-hoc, in 1979 after the report was delivered, of the Interim Board for Posts (Irish: An Bord Poist), chaired by Feargal Quinn, and the Interim Board for Telecommunications (Irish: An Bord Telecom) chaired by Michael Smurfit. These two boards continued to sit until the semi-state orgainsations which replaced them – An Post and Telecom Éireann repectively, were created in 1984 – the Minister of Posts & Telegraphs ceased to exist at that time and the functions and liabilities were passed to the newly created office of Minister for Communications; this was one of the largest reorganisations of the civil service in modern times and a result civil service numbers nearly halfed overnight because of the tranfer of personnel.

Minister for the Post Office 1922–1924

Minister for Posts & Telegraphs 1924–1984