Published Thursday, 08 March 2012
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The bank, which is the parent company of First Trust in Northern Ireland, will be cutting 500 more jobs than it originally signalled.
It says it aims to make half of the redundancies this year across its operations in NI, the Republic of Ireland and Britain, as part of plans to cut costs by €170m per year.
Staff at First Trust will have to wait until the end of the month to hear just how many jobs are going.
The bank employs around 1300 at almost 50 branches.
Speaking in the Dail, the Tánaiste and Minister of Trade Eamon Gilmore said the news will have a devastating impact on ordinary employees and their families.
He said: "My first concern is with the employees of the bank because this is obviously very upsetting for all of the people who work in Allied Irish Bank."
The bank is entering into immediate consultations with bank worker unions over the terms of a severance programme.
David Duffy from AIB said: "We aim to implement a severance package that is fair to people at all levels in the bank, while reflecting the very difficult financial position that AIB is in and the huge taxpayer support on which we continue to rely.
"I am confident that AIB will achieve sustainable profitability with a reduced cost base essential to delivering this recovery."
Meanwhile the Irish Bank Officials Association said the scale of the cuts again shows ordinary bank workers suffer the consequences of mismanagement.
Larry Broderick of IBOA said: "This continuing haemorrhage of jobs in the financial sector shows no signs of abating.
"We need a realistic strategy to strengthen existing employment and create alternative opportunities."
AIB has been forced into reducing its workforce by a combination of factors, including bad loans to property developers which have had to be written off, and the current weakness of the Irish economy.
It wants to slim down through voluntary redundancies and says it is working with the Irish government towards a speedy resolution.
The bank said: "The programme forms an important part of AIB's return to sustainable profitability, allowing the bank to focus on its customers and support Ireland's economic recovery."