The Labour Court is expected to issue a recommendation on on the Bus Éireann strike by lunchtime.

The all-out strike by unions representing workers at the transport company is entering its 21st day, with unions having agreed to lift pickets when the recommendation is issued.

Members will then be balloted on the recommendations.

It could be tomorrow before Bus Éireann services begin fully operating again.

Workers have been striking over proposed cost-cutting measures at the embattled company, with unions refusing to accept proposed changes to their terms & conditions of employment.

Bus Éireann, meanwhile, has warned that the company faces insolvency in the coming weeks or months if it does not implement a wide-ranging series of changes.

Dermot O'Leary, General Secretary of the NBRU said: "Bus Éireann have displayed outright brass-neckery by attempting to paint our members in a bad light by implying that they would not cooperate with a return to work before the issuing of the Labour Court recommendation.

"This despite the fact that Bus Éireann management were present at the Court when the request to lift pickets was accepted by all five Unions," he added.

Lorraine Higgins from Retail Excellence Ireland, meanwhile, believes the strike - which has brought almost all Bus Éireann services around the country to a standstill - has been allowed to drag on because other public transport services are still operating in Dublin.

She argued: "There are all sorts of ramifications [from the strike] - it's just not retailers that are impacted. We have workers who are trying to get to work."

Separately, SIPTU is due to finish counting a ballot of Dublin Bus workers today.

The union has been asking members whether or not they should take industrial action in support of their colleagues at Bus Éireann.