The Workplace Relations Commission has been asked to intervene in an attempt to avert next Friday's garda strike.
The Department of Justice and Garda Representative Association agreed to the move this afternoon.
The Gardai have long called for access to the states industrial relations mechanisms in order to resolve disputes.
But despite commitments from the current and former justice ministers the representative associations have not been given this access.
But with the first of four days of strikes by rank and file and middle ranking Gardai just a week away, a breakthrough came about this afternoon.
The GRA and the department of justice agreed to utilise the state's industrial relations machinery on an ad hoc basis to try and avert the dispute.
The Workplace Relations Commission will now be asked to hold talks to try and broker a deal.
