Luas drivers have called off their planned 48 hour strike this weekend.

Siptu says its to "create space" for talks between ticket inspectors and control room staff who are due to meet Transdev management for talks on pay and conditions tomorrow.

Siptu is also seeking a meeting with the Minister for Transport Paschal Donohoe.

Last week, former ICTU secretary-general David Begg told Newstalk Breakfast that there had been a pretty significant escalation of the dispute, and called on Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil to tackle the crisis before the parties get too 'dug in'.

"I think Micheál Martin's people and the Taoiseach's people, when they're negotiating, they need to take a few minutes to contemplate how would they stabilise the economy from an industrial relations point of view," he said.

"And whether there wouldn't be a  good case for reintroducing [an employee-labour conference], which is tried and tested. You're going to see something of an upswell of pay claims, with people trying to restore what they've lost in the past, and who can blame them?"