A crisis in the Irish residential care system was temporarily averted at the 11th hour today when a union suspended a walkout of care workers.
SIPTU postponed a planned strike among its members working with people with intellectual disabilities.
But the move sparked frantic talks to reach a resolution by Monday.
If there was no settlement during the marathon weekend talks, SIPTU staff would walk out on the same day as workers from IMPACT, leaving hundreds of disabled people in need of care by friends or relatives.
The workers, from centres run by St Michael's House, the Daughters of Charity and from Stewart's Hospital in Dublin, are demanding that their pay be brought in line with child care workers in statutory agencies.
IMPACT today accused the Government of discriminating against intellectually disabled people and those who work with them.
National Secretary Mr Kevin Callinan said: "In the future it will be extremely difficult to attract people with the suitable qualifications to work in the intellectual disability area. Many of our members are already finding it far more attractive to leave this area to work in the other sectors."
He added that "absolutely no progress" had been made in talks with the Health Service Employers' Agency (HSEA), in recent days.
Minister for Health Mr Micheál Martin "hasn't even picked up the phone" to help find a resolution, "The prospects are extremely bleak. Unless there is a fundamental change we have a serious problem."
But a spokesman for the HSEA said: "We will give this every effort that we can. We spent 10 hours in talks on Tuesday and 17 hours yesterday."
SIPTU, IMPACT and the HSEA are to meet the Labour Relations Commission in a bid to break the deadlock.
The Department of Health and Children had no immediate response today.
PA