A settlement between hospital consultants and the Department of Health seemed unlikely late last night in the on-going negotiations on pay and conditions. Earlier, the general secretary of the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association, Mr Finbarr Fitzpatrick, had said an offer from the Department did not "go far enough" to satisfy their demands.
However, when the IHCA indicated it would reject the offer, Department officials withdrew to reconsider their position.
The IHCA has warned of chaos in acute hospitals if the talks fail because consultants would withdraw co-operation in policy-making and administration.
The negotiations, between the members of the IHCA, the Irish Medical Organisation, and the Department began last Thursday. Monday's session continued until 7 a.m. yesterday morning.
According to Mr Fitzpatrick, there had been progress in a number of areas, including locum cover, consultants' involvement in management and on monitoring the hours consultants work.
There were three "sticking points": payment for consultants on call, call-out payment and rest days.
"These three items involve money and principle and involve every consultant in some way. They have been the problem areas from the start," he said.
Mr Conal Devine, IMO industrial relations director, said the organisation was also unhappy with attempts to remove the entitlement of rest days for consultants, as proposed in the Buckley Review of consultants' pay and conditions.
"Given what is proposed, consultants would be expected to work for 12 days continuously before they would get two days off," he said.
"That is not in the consultants' interest or the interest of the patient."