Nursing unions who had threatened a national strike will today hold face-to-face meetings with health employers.
Up to 40,000 members of the Irish Nurses Organisation and the Psychiatric Nurses Organisation called off their industrial action last week to begin three weeks of talks.
The nurses are demanding a 35-hour week, increased pay and a bonus for working in Dublin. The unions have mounted recent lunchtime demos outside hospitals in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Limerick.
A national work-to-rule action due to begin last Monday was cancelled after an offer of talks by the Government's industrial relations troubleshooter, the National Implementation Body.
A schedule of future meetings between the unions and health employers will be decided at today's meeting in Government Buildings.