Updated, 22:58

EBS BUILDING Society is to cut 200 jobs, the AIB-owned body has confirmed.

The jobs are to be cut from the company’s head office in Dublin and from premises around the country. Staff were informed of the job losses this afternoon.

A meeting will be held between staff and unions next week to discuss the possibility of strike action.

AIB paid a nominal fee of €1 to buy EBS in  2011 as Ireland’s banking landscape was redrawn in the wake of the economic crisis.

A spokeswoman said the job losses were among 2,500 voluntary redundancies announced by the AIB Group last year.

Colm Quinlan of the UNITE trade union said EBS had yet to resolve a number of issues which arose out of the takeover by AIB.

“They are pressing ahead with savage cuts that will end the relationship it has with customers, many of whom are having to deal with distressed mortgages and are reliant on the human contact that drew them to the EBS in the first place,” he said.

“The way in which regular, often low paid workers are being treated with such callous disregard would be shocking in a private company but in one which is owned and controlled by Government, these actions are unforgivable”.

The company has reduced its workforce from 800 to 400 over the past four years.

Read: €1: The price AIB will pay to take over EBS Building Society >

Read: EBS workers vote to end ’13th month’ strike action >

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