An eleventh-hour bid to save Bailieboro AIB branch is to get underway this evening with representatives from AIB meeting with local councillors and traders in the Hotel Bailie.

The hopeful outcome of the meeting locally is to reverse the proposed closure - announced in August as part of a nationwide AIB restructuring.

AIB CEO, David Duffy, had announced that 51 branches were to close nationwide, among them Bailieborough and Cootehill, but that no staff would lose jobs.

The news was greeted with shock in both towns by traders. After AIB received letter requests for meetings, two members of the bank, regional director for the northeast Brendan O'Brien and senior manager for the northeast region Pauline Clarke were to meet with a delegation for the town. Local councillor Niamh Smyth said the town's main street would be "devastated" should the publicly-owned bank pull out.

"I wrote to David Duffy in August but I got a generic letter back that was most unsatisfactory so in the October council meeting we passed a motion urgently requesting a meeting with the bank on the future [of the branch].

"Businesses in the town will have to travel to Kells or Cavan now to do their banking, as a lot of them just feel that using a post office for business banking is just unsuitable in so many ways."

When asked if she was optimistic of any reversal, she said: "I'm quite hopeful, I'll do my damndest."

The Anglo-Celt, however, understands that AIB plans to go ahead with the closure.

Three years ago National Irish Bank closed in the town, which meant AIB was the sole business banking option for the town's traders.

An AIB spokesperson said: "In an effort to make the transition as seamless as possible AIB is engaging with community representatives seeking information regarding branch closures."