Barry O'Halloran

Permanent TSB said yesterday that it planned to close six branches and downgrade two more as part of its ongoing re-structuring plan.

A spokesman told The Irish Times that it planned to close four branches in Dublin, one in Waterford and one in Kilkenny, and amalgamate them with nearby branches. The closures will not result in any job losses, the spokesman said, but would create savings for the bank.

In Dublin city centre, the bank plans to close Abbey Street and amalgamate it with the nearby O'Connell Street.

On the other side of the Liffey, it intends to shut Thomas Street and merge it with its College Green outlet.

In the suburbs it will close its Crumlin branch and amalgamate it with Kimmage, and shut its Inchicore outlet and merge it with Ballyfermot.

In Kilkenny, it will close the High Street branch and join it with the Marble City Arcade outlet. In Waterford, Barronstrand Street will be moved to the Arundel Square branch.

Branches in Tipperary town and Roscrea will become sub-offices of Clonmel and Nenagh respectively. This will not result in loss of services to customers.

The spokesman said the changes were being discussed with union representatives. Mr Jerry Shanahan of Amicus-MSF said that staff had recently been told of the plans and that the union was in talks with the bank regarding the changes. "To my knowledge there are no difficulties at this point," he said.

He explained that the bank and the unions had an agreed mechanism for discussing branch closures and relocations. It was not possible to contact a spokesman for SIPTU, which also represents workers in the company.

The Permanent TSB spokesman said that the bank was in the advanced stages of planning to open two more branches in centres outside Dublin, but said that the group was not in a position to say where these would be located.