Union, employer and Government representatives late last night adjourned their discussions aimed at securing a new national pay deal. Progress was made on a number of ancillary issues, but a deal on the central question of pay was proving elusive.
The parties, who will meet again today, are attempting to agree pay increases covering the remaining 18 months of the Sustaining Progress partnership programme. Today was considered by most participants as the deadline for an agreement, given that the Taoiseach will be unavailable from tomorrow due to the EU summit in Brussels and other foreign commitments after that.
It is generally agreed that Mr Ahern's direct involvement would be required at the concluding stages of the negotiations. It is understood the parties to the talks have been told he will not be available to assist in any way once he departs for Brussels.
As president of the European Council, Mr Ahern is likely to be fully occupied at the summit in the task of trying to secure agreement on a new EU constitution.
If a pay deal could not be achieved by today, then it appeared likely that the discussions would be put off until the autumn.
Despite the close proximity of the deadline, however, little progress on pay had been made by last night. "We are no further on that we were coming in," said a source at the talks.
From the outset, there has been a large gap in the employers' and unions' respective positions.
The employers' body, IBEC, argues that the 7 per cent increase agreed for the first 18 months of Sustaining Progress turned out to be well ahead of inflation, meaning the deal was effectively "front loaded" for employees. It did not put a figure on the increase it would be prepared to concede, but indicated that it should be close to the current inflation rate of between 1 and 2 per cent.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions, however, argued that inflation should not be the sole basis on which a deal was agreed.
"Some people, particularly those at the stage of life for whom mortgage repayments and childcare costs are a big expenditure item, can have a personal inflation rate well above the average," it said in a paper presented at the talks.
IBEC, however, has dismissed such arguments as a "ruse" by the unions to secure a better pay deal than the economy can afford.
Unions, it says, have pointed to high inflation in the past as justification for high pay increases. Now that inflation is low, they are seeking alternative criteria to support an unsustainable claim, it argues.
Employers were also resisting union demands for a flat rate pay increase, of perhaps €20 a week, for those on low pay.
Unions did not expect this issue to be a major stumbling block, but several sources admitted to being surprised at the degree of opposition to the proposals from employers.
Such flat-rate increases, they pointed out, had been a feature of previous pay deals, although there was no such provision in the most recent agreement.
Having flagged the increase as a key issue for them in the talks, unions would find it difficult to simply drop the demand in order to facilitate a deal.
It is understood there has been some progress, however, on a range of pay-related issues which unions have also raised in the talks. They have sought, for example, measures to address the "crisis" in defined benefits pension schemes, a framework agreement on information and consultation in the workplace, and extra staff for the labour inspectorate of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.
Final agreement on these matters was said to be dependant on the outcome of the overall talks. If a deal on pay could be secured, the other matters could be finalised quite quickly, said a source.
A Government decision to proceed with the break-up of Aer Rianta yesterday could have made an agreement on pay more difficult to achieve. At its meeting, however, the Cabinet postponed a final decision on the legislation to break up the three Aer Rianta airports.
It is understood that the Government was reluctant to publish the break-up legislation ahead of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting last night at which TDs were expected to criticise the policy.
While the Government spokeswoman said last night that the Aer Rianta policy had been raised by voters on the election canvass, she said the Government's aim was to have the legislation through all stages of the Dáil before the summer recess.
