Retained firefighters are to suspend their industrial action for a period of 24 hours on Monday to allow for talks at the Labour Court.
Their union SIPTU has accepted an invitation to talks aimed at resolving the ongoing dispute over pay and conditions.
Retained firefighters began rolling work stoppages on Tuesday and had threatened to escalate the action to an all-out strike next week.
If Monday's exploratory talks fail to achieve a resolution, SIPTU said the all-out strike will go ahead as planned on Tuesday.
"While our members appreciate the intervention of the Labour Court in this matter, the resolution to this dispute will be complex and difficult," said SIPTU Public Administration and Community Division Organiser, Karan O Loughlin.
"However, the SIPTU negotiating committee have agreed to attend and will make every effort to create the space for a resolution to this dispute," Ms O Loughlin said.
Speaking in Waterford, Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage Darragh O'Brien said he supports a pay rise for retained firefighters but believes the correct way to achieve this is through the next round of public sector pay talks.
"The matter that needs to be resolved, in my view, needs to be resolved through the public sector pay talks which start informally next month," Mr O'Brien said.
"My department remains in contact, we obviously want the situation to de-escalate," he said.
"Further contact is being made today and over the weekend and I would be just encouraging people to use the apparatus that we have to be able to deal with this particular matter," he added.
Members of the retained service are part-time firefighters who are paid an annual retainer to be available for callouts.
SIPTU represents around 2,000 retained firefighters across 200 stations around the country.
The union said there is a recruitment and retention crisis in the service meaning that many firefighters are unable to take their leave entitlements due to staff shortages.
They have also seen their incomes drastically reduced due to reductions in call outs over the last number of years.
Additional reporting: Conor Kane
