The chief executive of An Post, Mr Donal Curtin, has warned up to 1,350 jobs will be lost in the service by next year unless radical cost-cutting measures are taken.
An Post lost €30 million last year, despite telling the Government last January it would make a €1 million profit.
Mr Curtin, who took over at the helm of the State-owned company in July, warned last summer of a looming crisis in An Post. He said today that it expects a loss of €16.3 million in the coming year.
He also said today some An Post properties and non-core businesses will have to be sold off to offset losses. The company's non-core operations include its technology units Post.Trust and PMI and its joint franchise to run the Prize Bonds scheme.
The company set aside €52.5 million last year for a severance plan. No large-scale redundancies took place in 2002. In fact, the group's total workforce increased during 2002 to 10,090, up from 9,839 the previous year.
Another 800 casual staff were employed in Dublin and provincial sorting centres over the Christmas/New Year period to handle the increased workload.
In September, the Government accused An Post of providing "seriously inaccurate" information to it about its deepening financial troubles.