Talks are expected to take place early next week to resolve a dispute which has led to industrial action at the social welfare office in Letterkenny.
The office deals with Child Benefit and Treatment Benefit and over recent weeks staff have been refusing to answer queries by telephone or fax. Claims received in the post are being processed as normal.
About 150 members of the Civil and Public Services Union (CPSU) are taking part in the industrial action.
The Assistant General Secretary of the CPSU, Mr Kevin Gaughran, said discussions had been ongoing over the past two weeks and a draft agreement had been drawn up. He was now awaiting responses to this draft agreement from the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs.
He expected a meeting with the Department early next week to deal with some outstanding issues. The dispute concerns the introduction of a new computer system and the recruitment of temporary staff.
The Letterkenny office is the first in the Department to have the New Service Delivery Model computer system installed and it will be extended to other offices next year.
Mr Gaughran said the CPSU believed there was a lack of proper consultation over its introduction and there was a need to look at "career implications, staffing needs and the possibility of upgrading and promotion".
He said there had a been a particular deterioration in staff/management relations in the Letterkenny office over a failure to set up a partnership committee. The CPSU is refusing to accept non-Union staff representatives on the committee.
The industrial action started in October but has escalated over recent weeks.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs said talks were ongoing and it was hoped the dispute would be resolved as soon as possible.
The industrial action has not had any major impact on the public, and backlogs of Child Benefit applications are not believed to be any worse than this time last year. In relation to Treatment Benefit, which covers dental, optical and medical appliances, it has prevented dentists telephoning to get clearance to go ahead with treatments.