Employers and unions last night resumed direct negotiations in Dublin on a possible new national partnership deal.
The talks at Farmleigh began at 7pm, but there was little optimism that a breakthrough was on the cards more than four weeks after talks opened on a successor to Sustaining Progress.
One source at the talks said the decision to move the negotiations to Farmleigh, the State-owned mansion in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, was an obvious attempt by the Government to "change the mood music" at the talks.
Previous meetings took place at Government Buildings.
The decision to start at the later time of 7pm, rather than in the early afternoon as had previously been the case, was also seen as a move by the Government to move the talks into a new, more intensive phase.
Little if any progress has been made to date in the talks, which have focused on union demands for new measures to protect employment standards.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) says it requires substantial progress on this issue before it negotiates on other issues, including pay.
It wants new legislation to ensure workers are paid the "going rate" for a job, and cannot be made redundant to be replaced by others on lower pay.
Ibec and the Construction Industry Federation say they are prepared to examine the need for better enforcement of and compliance with existing employment laws.
However, they have rejected Ictu's call for new legislation on the basis that an increase in the "regulatory burden" on employers would make the labour market more inflexible and damage the economy.
Senior Government official Dermot McCarthy, who has been chairing the negotiations, held bilateral meetings with the sides last week to explore avenues of potential agreement. However, a wide gap between the parties remained as talks resumed.
