A meeting of workers and management of the Abbey Theatre in Dublin has been described as a 'positive and productive' first step.

The theatre and a representative group of 312 signatories from an open letter to the Culture Minister Josepha Madigan met on Friday.

It related to the direction of the theatre and how it is being run.

The meeting included directors, designers, writers and producers who met with chair of the theatre, Dr Frances Ruane, director of the theatre Neil Murray and Abbey Theatre board member Sarah Durcan.

It was described as an "initial scoping meeting" following the open letter to Minister Madigan on January 7th.

A joint statement said the meeting was "a positive and productive first step."

"Both parties have agreed a process of bilateral meetings to deal with the issues raised in the open letter about the Abbey Theatre and the issues raised by the representatives of actors, agents, designers, directors, producers, technicians and writers at the meeting."

A timeframe has been set for a progress report by the end of April.

Each of the parties will also provide a progress update to both the Culture Minister and The Arts Council.

The theatre has said that it pays the actors it directly employs on terms and conditions, agreed with Irish Equity, the actors' union.

But it does not set the rate of pay - however this is to be reviewed as part of the dialogue.

The Abbey Theatre's employment contracts for 2018 show that 116 actors were directly employed.

This is in line with the 2016 figures, which it said was a particularly high benchmark - as this year marked the centenary.