A spokesman for An Post said there were no major disturbances and only slight delays to customers following the dispute by the Irish Postmasters' Union (IPU) members today.
Ballyshannon in Co Donegal suffered the worst of the dispute with no letter delivery. There were also delays of one to two hours in deliveries to other rural post offices around the country.
The dispute arose when over 600 IPU members said they would not accept mail deliveries from central locations until 8 a.m. as part of a claim for a pay increase. They also opened two hours later than normal - at 8 a.m.
The dispute centres on 600 postmasters and postmistresses who work as subcontractors for An Post and claim allowances for early morning work are insufficient. They also claim they are not being paid enough for carrying out a number of functions.
However, An Post said contractors received pay increases of 37 per cent in 1997, 6 per cent in September 2000 and 12 per cent in January 2001.
In addition, they would be receiving a 15 per cent increase in October, backdated to September 2000. This is in addition to benefiting from all phases of the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness.
Although the IPU agrees pay has been increased in recent years, it says members are still paid poorly for the service they provide.
