Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and The Green Party have held their first meeting on talks to form a government.
Negotiating teams met earlier to begin talks on drafting a programme for government.
In a joint statement, the three parties said: "We hope this will be the first of many meetings and all parties have agreed to keep this process confidential until it is completed."
Earlier Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said the parties should aim to agree a programme for government by the end of this month.
The start of negotiations came almost 90 days since the general election, and will focus on attempting to put together a stable government that could last for four or five years.
With the economy now in deep freeze, the situation is very different than the one reflected in the party's election manifestos only three or four months ago.
The first item on the agenda in the talks will be the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and any programme for government will need to set out how to rebuild the country and economy after the current crisis.
However, issues around housing, the wider healthcare situation, the environment and childcare will all also need to be tackled by the next government.
None of the three parties involved are particularly thrilled about the prospect of forming a government with the others, and the negotiations over the next few weeks are likely to be divisive.
The negotiating teams will have to find a considered compromise, while also including enough in the programme for government to get their individual parties to support it if put to a vote of members in a few weeks' time.
'It takes us a few weeks'
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr Ryan had called for a national government to be formed to deal with the unfolding crisis.
However, he says the situation has changed and there's now a need to form a government.
He suggested that the Irish people are "rightly impatient" at the length of time it has taken so far.
He told The Pat Kenny Show: “It was right that all political parties came together and supported the key health message and measures.
“It’s time to move, hopefully, to the recovery part of this crisis… that will require government.
“We should be aiming for the end of this month.
"It takes us a few weeks to manage this ordinarily, and I don’t think we should take any longer. I do think we have to start getting our economy and people working again.”
Deputy leader Catherine Martin is set to lead the Greens’ negotiation team, despite having previously opposed the prospect of entering government with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.
However, Deputy Ryan says he is “very confident” Deputy Martin and her team will work towards agreeing a deal.
He said that Micheál Martin, Leo Varadkar and himself will get involved in the talks as necessary.
