A planned strike by staff at Irish Life today has been deferred to allow talks take place.

Members of UNITE had been due to stage a one day stoppage as part of a series of actions.

However, the trade union said last night that the company has now given commitments to staff - which allows negotiations to get underway.

UNITE, which represents 1,100 workers at the financial institution, says further days of action will take place if the talks collapse.

Members recently held a series of lunchtime work stoppages in the lead up to their planned 24 hours of strike action.

In a ballot, 92% of members voted in favour of industrial action in the event of the company proceeding with its plans to impose unilateral changes to pay structures without agreement.