An Post says it hopes to be accepting mail from customers by Monday following an agreement between the company and the Communications Workers' Union (CWU)to enter talks at the Labour Relations Commission to resolve the 13-day-old dispute.
As part of the LRC plan the first of more than 649 staff suspended during the dispute will return to work at 10 p.m. tonight. An Post said it is now working on getting services back to normal. It said it would begin unsealing post boxes.
A spokeswoman for An Post said while there was not a lot of mail "stuck in the system" many customers would have a backlog of mail they wished to send as soon as possible. A large amount of international mail held abroad because of the dispute will also have to be sorted when the company starts accepting mail again.
The suspended staff will not be paid for the time they were suspended.
Both sides agreed to the LRC talks proposal following separate meetings. No date has been set for when the talks will begin, but, An Post said it is eager to start them as soon as possible.
Announcing the decision to enter talks, CWU national officer, Mr Seán McDonagh, said "it is important that all parties accept that we are where we are and there is now a need to move to full consultation and negotiation as rapidly as possible.
"The first order of priority, however, must be the earliest possible resumption of the national postal service by way of the immediate reinstatement of all 649 postal service workers - including 29 managers, 6 post office clerks, 9 drivers, 516 postal sorters and 92 post persons.
In a statement As Post said it was pleased "the Commission proposes that the Communications Workers Unions (CWU) should now re- enter negotiations - with a tight time-frame - on the change programme.
"We regret that despite the parlous financial position of An Post, which had an operating loss in excess of €40 million in 2003, the CWU abruptly left the negotiating table last December and has since refused to return."
The LRC recommended the tight deadlines for comprehensive talks on the future of An Post in its proposals and suggested that suspended staff be restored to the payroll as a prerequisite to new talks.