Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin has said the Civil Public & Services Union's decision to amend its industrial action at the Passport Office will not have any major impact.
In a statement, Mr Martin welcomed the move, but he urged the union to suspend the industrial action in the public interest.
He said that was the only realistic way of clearing the backlog of passport applications.
Mr Martin also said it was essential that the CPSU dropped its overtime ban, and it was also important that the annual recruitment of 80 temporary staff be allowed to go-ahead to deal with the seasonal demand for passports.
Earlier, the CPSU said it would amend its industrial action, which has triggered chaotic scenes at the Passport Office in recent days.
The union said it was prepared to extend the grounds for emergency passport provision beyond bereavement and illness to include immediate travel deadlines.
Announcing the amendment, the CPSU said it was mindful of the stress and anxiety being experienced by members of the public.
Assistant General Secretary Theresa Dwyer said that given the scale of the backlogs, this would not solve all problems but would help to reduce the pressure.
She also denied that the counter closures had caused the problem, blaming the backlog on the cumulative effect of ten weeks of industrial action before the Government agreed to enter talks.
An emergency meeting of the Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs is to take place tomorrow afternoon, in an effort to resolve the dispute. (Watch it live on rte.ie/live tomorrow.)
Backlog of unprocessed applications
From 3am this morning, hundreds of people started queuing in the hopes of a passport - with anger and frustration mounting as the day wore on.
The situation became worse at lunchtime when the building was evacuated for an hour because of a bomb hoax.
There is a backlog of 40,000 unprocessed passport applications, while the average waiting period has almost doubled to 20 days.
CPSU General Secretary Blair Horan told RTÉ News that the union is willing to work to alleviate the problems, but is not willing to suspend the action.
Labour leader Eamon Gilmore earlier called for an immediate suspension of the action, saying it was eroding public support for union grievances.
He added that citizens have a constitutional right to a passport.
Travel agents say they are being inundated with inquiries from customers who are angry and looking for advice.
