Large areas of the State could be without mail deliveries in the run-up to Christmas unless talks tomorrow succeed in resolving the three-month-old postmasters' dispute.
Their union is to begin balloting members on Thursday on a complete withdrawal of mail services from early next month if proposals likely to resolve the pay row do not emerge at tomorrow's talks.
Deliveries were delayed for several hours in and around Ennis, Co Clare, yesterday following unofficial action by about 15 postmasters at the town's main post office.
A similar protest was staged in Athlone but An Post said deliveries in the area were not affected.
Members of the Irish Postmasters' Union (IPU) decided at the weekend, at a meeting in Dublin, to escalate the dispute if tomorrow's talks are not successful.
Mr John Kane, the IPU general secretary, said a ballot on the withdrawal of all mail services would begin on Thursday morning, with the action due to begin on December 2nd.
If that action did not bring about a resolution, it would be escalated to include all services offered by post offices, with the exception of social welfare payments. In that case, post offices would shut for most of the week but would open on Thursday and Friday mornings to allow pensions and other welfare payments to be made.
The action would affect mail deliveries in rural areas as well as most towns. Only 100 of the 1,800 post offices in the State are run by An Post; the remainder are managed by members of the IPU as sub-contractors.
A spokesman for An Post declined to comment on the threatened escalation and said tomorrow's talks held out the best hope of a resolution of the dispute.
