An Post has confirmed that the price of a national stamp will increase by 20c to €1.85 from Tuesday, February 3.

A new €3.50 stamp for letters to anywhere in Europe, including Britain, is being introduced, marking an increase of 85c.

An Post said the increase is in line with global trends and below the EU and British benchmark of €2.04 for domestic next day letter service.

A new Rest of World stamp will be priced at €3.95, which An Post said is required to "stem significant losses" on this category of outgoing mail due to a 38% fall in international letters over the last three years.

An Post

An Post said it is taking action to "safeguard national delivery services and equal access to letter services nationwide, for uniform prices".

The move comes as more European postal companies are stepping back letter services due to falling volumes and rising costs.

As more than 50% of outgoing international mail is destined for Britain, Germany and France, the postal service said it has introduced a new Europe and Britain €3.50 rate, rather than apply the higher Rest of World rate to this category.

In the UK, the equivalent European stamp costs €3.90.

It has been confirmed that rates for large envelopes, packets, over-the-counter parcels and registered post will also rise, as will rates for the innovative national and international digital stamps.

An Post said the price changes are "carefully calculated" and take account of wage increases for postal staff in line with national pay awards, increased operating costs and letter volumes which have declined by 7% in the last 12 months and more than 50% since 2016.

A similar rate of decline is forecast for 2026.

Service

Garrett Bridgeman, managing director of An Post Mails & Parcels said their priority is to "support the Irish economy and communities by providing world-class services for the people and businesses country wide".

"We work hard on the economics of the business by introducing smarter work practices and managing costs to achieve fair, cost-reflective prices below the European benchmark average, and below the UK, despite falling volumes due to e-substitution.

"An Post remains entirely self-financed. Our quality of service is amongst the highest in Europe and we continue to innovate in the provision of vital services for the Irish economy and local communities," he said.

Bridgeman confirmed that An Post’s community focus supports including free postage to all nursing and care homes will continue throughout 2026.

"While An Post continues to design future generation mail services to suit customers’ needs, the company is committed to retaining the option of a next-day national service to the door, by trusted, trained postal staff in a growing fleet of emission free vehicles," he added.

All existing stamps with ‘N’ (National) and ‘W’ (Worldwide) or specific euro denominations remain valid and fully useable after February 3, 2026.