Retained firefighters have suspended their industrial action over pay and conditions following talks at the Workplace Relations Commission.
A breakthrough in the dispute came after more than 12 hours of negotiations between SIPTU and the Local Government Management Agency under the auspices of the WRC.
For the last ten weeks, around 2,000 of the part-time personnel have been engaged in a rolling campaign of industrial action, with pickets placed across 200 retained fire stations.
The firefighters, who are paid an annual retainer for being on-call, say there is a retention and recruitment crisis in the service.
SIPTU divisional organiser Karan O Loughlin said the fresh talks resulted in improved terms being offered to members of the service in an attempt to resolve the dispute.
She said following a long and difficult day, with discussions carrying on into the early hours of this morning, "enough progress was made to develop a document that could be put to the members for consideration".
Ms O Loughlin said the wording of the proposal is being finalised by the WRC, but she said: "The heads of the agreement for consideration deal with the core issue of pay security."
The SIPTU delegation agreed that the industrial action would be suspended from midday, on foot of a request from the WRC and to allow union members time to consider the document.
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Ms O Loughlin said the proposals in the deal are focused on core pay, along with some adjustments for new recruits to assist with the recruitment problem.
In a statement, she said under the draft agreement, new recruits will enter the service with guaranteed minimum earnings of over €18,000.
She said new recruits "will move to the increments faster than is currently the case and the guaranteed earnings for firefighters with more than eight years of service will now be over €21,500".
SIPTU said station officers will have secure minimum earnings of between €27,400 and €31,730.
Ms O Loughlin said: "All the other pieces in respect of the filling of promotional positions and the hiring of 400 new recruits remains intact."
As part of the deal, there will also be a reduction in the requirement for members of the part-time service to be available from 48 weeks to 24 weeks, with an option to be available more frequently on a voluntary basis.
"This is a good first step in our campaign to rebuild the retained fire service and if this proposal is acceptable to our members, we will move in to phase two of the campaign through the public service pay talks," she added.
SIPTU sector organiser Brendan O’Brien said: "It has been clear for some time now that the rebuilding of the service would be a two-step process.
"This first step provides, for the very first time, guaranteed income for retained firefighters, which give us the correct direction of travel for building this income in to the future while ensuring the work-life balance piece is also addressed."
Mr O'Brien said the proposal has a built in review every six months to ensure that the recruitment mechanisms stay on course and the policy pieces get rolled out in good time.
"It has been an arduous process for retained firefighters and their resilience and determination in this dispute is to be admired," he added.
The retained firefighters had escalated their industrial action last Saturday, with fire stations going dark, meaning there was no internal communications with management apart from lifesaving information.
As part of the dispute, 50% of retained fire stations around the county has also closed on a rotational basis.
SIPTU said if the latest move last weekend did not encourage management back to the talks table, then from this Saturday, an additional one station would have closed each week, in each county.
The Local Government Management Agency said it "appreciates the assistance of the WRC in bringing the parties together".
In a statement, the LGMA said it now "awaits the issuing of the formal outcome from the WRC."
Minister welcomes suspension of industrial action
Minister for Housing and Local Government Darragh O'Brien welcomed the decision by the firefighters to suspend their industrial action.
The minister thanked both sides for their engagement in the process and for their "efforts to seek a resolution".
"I welcome the intervention of the WRC in the current dispute and I believe a pathway forward can be found," he said.
Minister O’Brien said he will "continue to support the great work done by our retained firefighters across the country".
He also again pledged to "advocate on their behalf" at the upcoming national pay talks, which are due to begin shortly.
Sinn Féin TD for Co Wicklow, John Brady, called on the Government to address the core issues in the dispute and for Minister O'Brien to act.
He said: "While I acknowledge that we have witnessed some movement on the issue of minimum earnings, it will ultimately be the decision of the retained firefighters whether they decide to accept this or not.
"For too long Minister Darragh O'Brien has been missing in action when it comes to trying find solutions to this crisis.
"He must now do right by retained firefighters, and act in the best interests of the retained fire service and its membership to bring this dispute to closure."
The overwhelming majority of retained firefighters had recently rejected a Labour Court recommendation aimed at ending the row, which they described as a major disappointment.
Under that proposal, the Labour Court had recommended an increase of between 24% and 32.7% in the retainer, which would have seen the payment rise from €8,870 to €11,769.
