The strike action from Bus Éireann that was planned for Monday has now been called off.

RTÉ has said that it has been suspended to allow for talks at the Workplace Relations Commission.

Unions at Bus Éireann have suspended strike action scheduled from Monday to allow for talks at the WRC

— RTÉ News (@rtenews) March 3, 2017

Willie Noone, SIPTU Sector Organiser, said:

"It has always been apparent that the expertise of the WRC will be required to deal with the serious and complex issues in this dispute. In deference to a request by the WRC, the scheduled strike action by SIPTU members in Bus Éireann, which was due to commence on Monday, has been suspended. SIPTU representatives will continue to play their part in trying to avert a national public transport dispute but we rely on the management of Bus Éireann making genuine efforts to reach a resolution."

General Secretary of the NBRU, Dermot O'Leary, also said:

"Whilst we have today informed the WRC that we will accept the invitation to attend at facilitated discussions on Monday next to discuss the €9m losses at Expressway, we remain firmly of the view that an overall resolution to this dispute can only be achieved by all of the stakeholders being party to an overarching agreement. We will of course endeavour, on behalf of commuters and our members, to work towards resolving this crisis, however, the attitude displayed by Bus Éireann management to date has left us with no option but to advise our members that they should remain on a war-footing and be prepared to engage in an immediate all-out strike, should the company plough ahead with its Irish Ferries style attack on bus workers moderate terms and conditions."