Further post office closures and a consequent loss of vital community services appear "inevitable", a union leader said yesterday following a meeting with the Minister for Communications, Mr Dempsey. Chris Dooley, Industry and Employment Correspondent, reports.

Mr John Kane, general secretary of the Irish Postmasters' Union (IPU), said the Minister had given a "sympathetic" hearing to its concerns about the "precarious existence" of the post office network.

Mr Dempsey had indicated, however, that he was unlikely to be able to meet one of the union's key demands, that smaller post offices be allowed to benefit from public service obligation (PSO)supports. PSO contracts allow the State to provide funding for certain enterprises without breaching EU law.

Including post offices under their remit would enable them to supplement the "meagre income" they receive from An Post as well as the cost of installing and maintaining modern technology, said Mr Kane.

"While the Minister said that he would examine our proposals, he didn't hold out much hope that they would be proceeded with," he said. "Unfortunately, if they are not, this will inevitably lead to more post office closures and the loss of vital services to local communities."

The IPU says that 300 smaller post offices have had to close over the past three years, 65 of them this year alone.

Mr Dempsey, he said, had undertaken to raise with the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Mr Brennan, the union's concern that social welfare payments continue to be made through the post office network to the greatest extent possible.

"We explained to the Minister our belief that the Department of Social and Family Affairs is encouraging social welfare recipients to have their benefits paid at banks through electronic transfers, which will deprive the post office of the social welfare payments and have a knock-on effect on 'Billpay' transactions conducted by social welfare recipients at post offices," said Mr Kane.