A pay offer made to postal workers was tonight recommended for acceptance by the Irish Postmasters' Union.
If accepted by the union's members, the move will avert action which has threatened to disrupt the Christmas postal service.
The announcement came after a compromise deal from An Post was studied by the IPU executive.
Around 1,500 sub-postmasters will be balloted from tomorrow on whether to accept the deal.
If the deal is accepted it would draw to a close a three-month-old dispute by sub-postmasters, which centres around demands for increased pay for opening offices before 8 a.m. and at weekends, and over the sorting of mail. Mr John Kane, general secretary of the IPU, said he was reasonably confident members would vote to accept the offer drawn up by mediator Phil Flynn.
Under the new deal there would be an increase in the amount received by postmasters for working mornings and weekends, and they would no longer be required to sort mail.
The postal dispute escalated three weeks ago when 540 rural sub-postmasters began suspending sorting facilities at their sub-post offices on Mondays and Fridays.