The final round of talks aimed at breaking the deadlock over new contracts for hospital consultants are taking place in Dublin tonight.
The talks between the Health Service Executive (HSE), the Irish Medical Organisation and the Irish Hospital Consultants Association represent the fifth deadline set for completion of the process over the past year.
They are expected to be protracted as initally both sides will be meeting bilaterally, with face-to-face discussions only taking place later.
The HSE have offered salaries of up to €235,000 per year for a new type-A contract, which would involve doctors working over an extended day. The contract also puts a 20 per cent cap on private practice in public hospitals.
Management has now also offered salaries of up to €205,000 for the proposed type-B contract and salaries of up to €170,000 for a type-C contact.
The IHCA joined the IMO in insisting much progress was needed for an eleventh hour deal.
"We are going into this more in hope than in expectation, but we are prepared to stick with this until we get a satisfactory agreement," an IHCA spokesman said.
Speaking earlier, HSE chief Prof Brendan Drumm said he hoped there would be a deal today.
"There has to come a point where we have to move on and that point has to be today. We have to be hopeful that we can deliver on this today," said Prof Drumm.
Prof Drumm added that there would be "no major change in what's been offered on pay."
IMO director of industrial relations Fintan Hourihan said that "ideally there would be an agreement here today."
"All I can say that is we've committed ourselves. We're prepared to stay for a long period of time if that's necessary," he said.
Mr Hourihan added that he would not go into the detail of what the IMO were looking for at the talks but said it was critically important that any agreement reached
would "enjoy the support of a critical mass of consultants that includes both future appointees and serving consultants because, otherwise, the changes and reforms are doomed to failure."
Areas of disagreement between the sides include pay scales, the proposed 20 per cent cap on private practice in public hospitals, hours of work, disciplinary procedures, proposed new clinical directors and the structures of a new body to regulate consultant appointments.
