There would be no "wholesale closure" of post offices, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said. The Government wanted the network to stay in place and to ensure it would be viable.

He added: "Far from creating any uncertainty, we are anxious to make sure that as much business, including new and different types of business, can be given to them so that we can make them viable for the future".

The issue was raised on the Order of Business by the Labour leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, who expressed concern about the uncertainty over the immediate viability of the post office network.

The Fine Gael leader, Mr Michael Noonan, asked if the Government had any plans to reopen about 80 post offices where those operating them had difficulty in getting people to take over.

Mr Ahern said banking services in many parts of the State had been pulled out. In those areas it made good sense to develop the post offices and to give them the technological advances to do much of the banking work.

Asked about cross-Border smuggling and a single veterinary regime for the island of Ireland, Mr Ahern said there were advantages to having such a regime.

"I would be strongly supportive of such a regime, assuming it would be possible to ensure that the controls equivalent to those operating between this jurisdiction and Great Britain, the Netherlands and France were also operating between Northern Ireland and those countries. Otherwise it would not make much sense."

He added that there was a lot of evidence that paramilitaries were to a substantial extent behind smuggling.

There was certainly involvement among the newer paramilitary groups, and that was a major concern. He had spoken about this last week on the Border. "I get the feeling that the reluctance of people in these communities to speak out on these issues is that they are afraid to do so. That is sad but I understand it."