The deadlock in the teachers' dispute deepened last night when the Government-appointed mediator said he had no new proposals.
Asked about Friday's crucial meeting of secondary teachers, Mr Tom Pomphrett of the Labour Relations Commission said: "At the moment I don't have any proposals to put on the table".
The Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI) resumes its strike action today in Dublin and follows this in other regions in coming days. In all, students will lose nine days of teaching this term.
If the strike is unresolved the ASTI will ask its members to withdraw from exam work from February 3rd. Students have already lost nine days of classes because of the ASTI's action before Christmas. Its general secretary, Mr Charlie Lennon, said there was little prospect of progress in the short term.
The union's standing committee meets on Friday, and it was hoped a new proposal could be tabled by then. But the chances of this are fading, unless Mr Pomphrett can force either side to move its position.
Officials from the Departments of Education and Finance met yesterday to review the docking of pay, which has infuriated teachers.
The Department of Education has been trying to assuage the anger among teachers over the decision. Yesterday it said that any teacher who was not involved in the ASTI's work-to-rule would be reimbursed in future pay cheques. Some teachers on maternity and sick leave were wrongly docked pay by the Government.
Meanwhile the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) has called on the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, to immediately authorise the refunding of money docked from teachers for work-to-rule action before Christmas.
The union said this would allow talks to reopen with ASTI.
In a letter to the Minister for Education, Dr Woods, the TUI president, Mr John MacGabhann, says: "it is with alarm and astonishment, therefore, that we learn that certain of your Cabinet colleagues oppose repayment of the deductions".