Mail deliveries in several parts of the country face continued disruption due to unofficial disputes, An Post has warned.
People are being asked not to post to either Tuam, Co Galway or Drogheda, Co Louth, to prevent backlogs of mail building up. Deliveries in both areas are behind schedule.
Mail posted from all parts of Galway city and county face delays because of a separate dispute, while there is also disruption in Mitchelstown, Co Cork.
There are different issues involved in each dispute, however, the company's decision not to pay the 3 per cent increase due under Sustaining Progress is a common factor.
Postboxes in the Drogheda area, where deliveries are running between one and two days behind schedule, have been sealed by An Post.
Staff there are refusing to work overtime or cover for sick colleagues, in a dispute over overtime arrangements.
Mail deliveries to Dublin were delayed after a driver missed two days through illness and others refused to replace him, a company spokeswoman said.
The company dealt with overtime on the basis of a national agreement and could not make separate local arrangements, she said.
Deliveries in the Tuam area, where postal staff are engaged in a row over the standard of the premises they work in, are running about three days behind schedule. Following a one-day stoppage on February 3rd, staff have been refusing to work more than 7.5 hours per day in protest at the company's failure to find them new premises. Mr Peter Connolly, branch secretary of the Communication Workers Union , said staff were not engaged in industrial action.
"We have been working our 7.5-hour days since the one-day strike three weeks ago.
"If the company had authorised the hours to clear the backlog we would not be in this situation."
Independent TD Mr Paddy McHugh described the manner in which An Post management have handled the situation as "nothing short of disastrous.
"The accommodation in Tuam is substandard. An Post management acknowledge this, they say that are doing something about it, but they are doing absolutely nothing positive to bring a conclusion to this problem."
He added: " The responsibility for the difficulties experienced by An Post customers lies with An Post management only, nobody else." Tuam town councillor Mr Paul O'Grady, accused An Post of holding the town to ransom.
A spokeswoman for the company, however, said there was no disagreement that the premises was sub-standard and needed to be improved.
"There are agreed procedures there for dealing with the situation and we are asking for people to abide by those," she said.
About 25 per cent of mail posted in Galway city and county is being delayed because of a decision by staff to reverse a previous agreement allowing it to be sorted at the automated centre in Athlone, Co Westmeath, according to An Post.
There is also minor disruption to deliveries in the Mitchelstown area because of a work-to-rule.