Pickets are to continue today at four Department of Agriculture local offices, where staff have been suspended in a dispute over promotional opportunities.
There was no indication last night of a possible settlement to the dispute which yesterday shut down local services at the Department's offices in Galway (the biggest in the State), Limerick, Tralee and Castlebar.
Abut 40 staff attached to the Department's head office but who are based in Castlebar also joined the dispute by refusing to pass their colleagues' pickets.
The action was mounted by the Civil and Public Service Union after 150 clerical and staff officers were suspended on Tuesday for refusing to carry out duties including dealing with phone calls and faxes, as well as staffing front counters during the afternoons.
About 900 members of the union had been refusing to handle telephone and tax queries since mid-March, because of what they claim is a lack of promotional opportunities in the Department's 30 local offices.
This week's escalation at the four offices has led to a shutdown of services to farmers in those areas, including EU payments and the issuing of cattle movement permits. However, most EU support payments are distributed in September and October, so the impact in that respect has been limited.
Mr Kevin Gaughran, assistant general secretary of the CPSU, said last night no further talks with the Department of Agriculture were scheduled. There were no immediate plans, however, to escalate the action.
The Department denies the union's claim that staff in its local offices are three times less likely to get promotion than civil servants elsewhere, but admits that promotional opportunities within such offices are limited.
Staff can, however, compete for promotion throughout the Civil Service, it says.
