Government and trade union officials ended a meeting yesterday without finding a solution to the dispute over worker directors on the board of the soon-to-be-privatised Telecom Eireann. The row threatens to dominate next week's annual general conference of the Communications Workers' Union (CWU).

Last night, a spokesman for the Department of Public Enterprise and a spokesman for the CWU said the meeting had broken up without agreement, but that discussions continued.

At issue is the representation of workers - rather than shareholders - on the board of the privatised company. Currently, there are two worker directors on the 12-person board of Telecom Eireann, but there is no provision to retain these after the flotation.

The Government argues that because workers will have shares in the company, they will be represented by one employee share option trust (ESOT) director, Mr Dick Spring.

But the CWU insists that workers should be represented in their own right, not merely because they are shareholders.

Both sides said they were confident a solution to the current deadlock could be found, with some sources suggesting that the Telecom workers' stake in the company, at 14.9 per cent, might merit a second ESOT director.

"The Department, the company and ourselves have a role in solving all of this - and where there's a will, there is a way," said Mr Con Scanlon, the CWU's general secretary.