Prison officers had threatened a UK-wide strike

The strike threat was over the level of security measures being provided at prison officers' homes in Northern Ireland.

Following talks on Wednesday and Thursday, it is understood more money will be made available for security at the homes of 1,400 prison officers whose details were discovered in the hands of the IRA more than a year ago.

Urgent talks are also to begin on the implementation of the Steele Report, which recommended separating republican and loyalist prisoners at the province's high security Maghaberry Prison in County Antrim.

In a joint statement, the Northern Ireland Office and the Prison Officers' Association confirmed that negotiations would take place over four weeks and would include staffing issues.

The union in return has agreed to restore goodwill in working arrangements within the prisons and to enter into talks on new industrial relations procedures.

The Prison Service has agreed to drop legal action against the union over the cost of unofficial strike action by officers last year.

Paul Murphy said he was 'very pleased' with the deal

Police officers were brought in to staff the prisons when officers walked out without notice.

The Prison Service had wanted the union to cover the cost of police time, but has now agreed to drop all action. Secretary of State Paul Murphy said he was "very pleased" with the agreement.

"We have had two days of very detailed and constructive negotiations between ourselves and the trade unions," he said. "We resolved the outstanding issues that were before us and we hope that this well lead to a good climate in industrial relations between the Prison Officers' Association and the government."

'Confident'

The national chairman of the Prison Officers' Association, Colin Moses, said he was happy with the outcome of the talks and was confident Northern Ireland officers would accept the deal.

It is illegal for prison officers to strike, but the union had insisted it would go ahead with the move anyway, without a ballot.

Hugh Orde said the prison service handled the situation well

Two days of talks took place against the backdrop of serious disturbances involving loyalist inmates at Maghaberry.

The Chief Constable, Hugh Orde, said pipe bombs discovered in north Belfast were directly linked to the trouble.

Army bomb experts defused two pipe bombs found in north Belfast on Wednesday.

Mr Orde said it was too soon to tell whether or not trouble would flair again, but said plans were being put in place to avoid a repeat of Wednesday night's events.

Industrial action was threatened in October following attacks on five members of staff at Maghaberry.

A number of homes of serving and former prison officers have also been attacked.

These attacks were linked to a prisoners' dispute at the jail.