Talks at the Labour Relations Commission on the Irish Ferries dispute concluded without resolution this evening.
Siptu and management at the company accepted an invitation to hold exploratory talks today following five days without progress. The company said no progress had been made today, while Siptu claimed it had offered around €2.5 million in cost savings which the company would not accept.
Around half of Irish Ferries 1,200 workers have been laid off in the dispute.
The dispute centres on the company's decision to outsource jobs on its MV Normandy service between Rosslare and Cherbourg.
Siptu is concerned that the move marks the beginning of a plan to outsource jobs on other services and says this would mark the end of the Irish seafaring tradition.
The union said today it was prepared to discuss cost-cutting measures on the route other than outsourcing.
The Irish Hotels Federation and the Irish Exporters Association both urged speedy resolution of the dispute.
The bodies said they were gravely concerned at "this unjustifiable action by Siptu" which they said threatened jobs and inconvenienced 100,000 travellers over the Christmas period.
They said the grounded ferry service would lead to serious repercussions for the tourism and exporting sectors if a breakthrough in the dispute is not achieved quickly.