The Minister for the Marine, Mr Dermot Ahern, remains locked in discussions with other EU fisheries ministers in Brussels as it emerged that a compromise on fishing quotos has yet to be reached.
Talks were adjourned at 2 p.m. today, but are due to be reconvened later this evening.
A spokesman for the Department for the Marine told ireland.comthat it was possible - even probable - that talks would continue through the night in an effort to break the deadlock.
The deadlock is the result of the rejection by Ireland and some other of the Commission's latest compromise proposal to conserve stocks.
The Commission appears to have drawn back from its initial demand that quotas for cod should be cut by almost 80 per cent.
In effect, this would have meant that fishing for cod off the coast of Donegal would be limited to seven days a month for the first six months of next year. Cod fishing off the rest of Ireland's coast would be limited to 15 days a month.
The Fisheries Commissioner, Mr Franz Fischler, said yesterday that he would accept a 65 per cent cut in quotas if fisheries ministers agreed to limit the number of days fishing vessels could go to sea.
Talks were due to finish today, but the spokesman said it would not be surprising if the talks continued tomorrow.
"There is no sign of a breakthrough yet and it would be no great surprise if talks were to continue through the night and tomorrow," he said.
"As yet there are no signs of a breakthrough."
The Danish EU presidency, which has been hosting the meeting in Brussels since Monday, presented compromise proposals today after a day of stock-taking bilateral talks on yesterday.
The European Commission says that after years of over-fishing, drastic changes are needed to the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), which has been blamed for sparking the present crisis.
The commission has accused the so-called "friends of fishing" - France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain - of refusing to compromise.
Earlier this week Mr Fischler said there was no alternative to quota cuts and CFP reform, which envisages more than 8,000 trawlers being taken out of operation with EU aid.
Additional reporting PA