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Bus Éireann is to give a number of drivers permanent positions after they completed their probationary period.

The issue was one of the key concerns raised by unions after the State-owned company announced it was to cut costs and seek redundancies among its workforce.

Union Siptu today welcomed the move.

“This is a very welcome development as it brings Bus Eireann back inside its own procedures and allows us to take about the substantive issues, including the company’s cost saving measures,” said the union's sector organiser Andrew McCarthy said,

The 46 drivers will be made permanent from tomorrow. The union is seeking a similar aarrangement for the remaining 58 probationary drivers when they complete their training.

Talks at the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) are set to take place on Friday morning.

Last week the intervention of the LRC averted threatened industrial action, which could have affected up to 70,000 passangers daily.

The dispute centred on management proposals to introduce the controversial cost-containment programme without agreement.

Bus Éireann said it would defer the implementation of its cost-saving programme, which it had planned to introduce from next week, pending the outcome of the new talks.