Taoiseach Brian Cowen is meeting with union leaders at Government Buildings as efforts continue tonight to reach a new national pay deal.
Business and union leaders resumed negotiations at Government buildings this afternoon in an attempt to reach common ground.
However, representatives from both sides were cautious on the likelihood of any deal being reached.
The general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) said that the current talks have been “the most difficult ever.”
The director of industrial relations of the employer’s group Ibec said the process was very delicately balanced.
Speaking this afternoon, Mr Cowen was downbeat about the prospects of a deal emerging: "There are still difficult issues. I am going there this afternoon to see if it is possible to find the basis of a deal. At this stage, genuinely, I couldn't be sure if we will have a successful outcome.
"This is not a done deal by any manner or means as things stand. It isn't an orchestrated process, or anything like that. There are genuine and serious issues on which there is not yet agreement. I don't know whether in fact we will be able to come up with a solution, but we will know later tonight one way, or the other."
"I think I have made it clear both directly to the parties and when we resumed that the room for manoeuvre for the Government has in fact even tightened further over the last month," he said.
Next month's budget is going to include "painful measures", said Mr Cowen, but he was confident that the public would appreciate its Government taking necessary actions quickly.
Arriving at Government Buildings for the ninth day of the current process Ictu general secretary David Begg said that the negotiations have taken longer and that less progress had been made by this point than at any set of previous discussions.
He said that today would represent the final day of the process “one way or the other”.
He said the position was finely balanced. He said that there had been no new proposals made on key issues such as pay and collective bargaining rights.
“The position on the main questions is as it was at the end of July,” he said.
“The only reason to hope is that people have not come back here for no purpose. If you want a deal you will have to change and move”.
Ibec's director of industrial relations of Brendan McGinty said that it was by no means certain "that we will get the right outcome." He said that “the financial turmoil over the last 24 hours made it even more important that we exercise control over the kind of things we can in the domestic areas in the economy"
Mr McGinty said that, from a business point of view, they wanted an agreement that supported competitiveness and protected jobs.
"We are here to see if an agreement can be negotiated. There will be an agreement if it is at the right price and the right terms that business can support," he said on arrival at Government Buildings.
Eamon Devoy of the TEEEU said that if there was not a deal reached today there would not be an agreement.
Jerry Shanahan of the trade union UNITE said that there was a dynamic at work but that a number of issues such as low paid workers, collective bargaining rights and pensions remained deal breakers for his union.
The national pay talks continued late last night, with unions and employers discussing Government proposals on pensions and upskilling of workers.
Informed sources said the process was moving increasingly to deal with the more sensitive issues involved in any new deal - albeit at a slow pace.
The talks, which have been running in the current phase for more than a week, are expected to enter their final phase today.
Union leaders said some progress had been made in recent days, but Ibec director general Turlough O'Sullivan said it was "far from certain" a deal would be struck.
