diff --git a/lib/neutron b/lib/neutron
index e90ada8929..5407f8a7b8 100644
--- a/lib/neutron
+++ b/lib/neutron
@@ -570,8 +570,15 @@ function configure_rbac_policies {
 # Start running OVN processes
 function start_ovn_services {
     if [[ $Q_AGENT == "ovn" ]]; then
-        init_ovn
-        start_ovn
+        if [ "$VIRT_DRIVER" != 'ironic' ]; then
+            # NOTE(TheJulia): Ironic's devstack plugin needs to perform
+            # additional networking configuration to setup a working test
+            # environment with test virtual machines to emulate baremetal,
+            # which requires OVN to be up and running earlier to complete
+            # that base configuration.
+            init_ovn
+            start_ovn
+        fi
         if [[ "$OVN_L3_CREATE_PUBLIC_NETWORK" == "True" ]]; then
             if [[ "$NEUTRON_CREATE_INITIAL_NETWORKS" != "True" ]]; then
                 echo "OVN_L3_CREATE_PUBLIC_NETWORK=True is being ignored "