After a temporary agreement between the sorting machine operators at An Post and the employers IO Systems, the Irish Postal strike has ended.

According to reports, the employers and employees have agreed to further talks on the changes to pay and conditions, but the reason that the IO Systems staff have returned to work is on condition that during negotiations they will have their original contracts and pay packages.

The strike began when 36 workers who operated the sorting machines at five An Post sorting offices walked out when their pay was cut by 22% and they were told they could no longer work weekends.

An Post has told the Irish public to start sending mail and parcels again, and that full service will resume from today (Tuesday). The postal operator says that mail caught up in the backlog will be prioritised. It may take some days for the service to return to normal however.