Unions and Government officials have reconvened at Croke Park for talks aimed at resolving the row over public sector pay and reform.
Arriving for the negotiations, co-chairman Kieran Mulvey said they hoped to work out an arrangement by which over the next two to three years they could bring more order to industrial relations and deal with agendas around transformation and reward.
General Secretary of the Irish Federation of University Teachers Mike Jennings said he was pretty optimistic a deal could be done.
He said the big problem for teachers was interpretation. He said the agreement could mean huge changes which would be unacceptable, so implementation would be important.
He warned that it the Department tired to over-egg the negotiations would fall apart.
However, he added that if everybody was reasonable, they could do a deal.
Civil Public and Services Union leader Blair Horan said it was hard to say whether he was optimistic, as they had not yet got round to talking about pay.
He said they were in a set of negotiations where the purpose for both sides was to conclude an agreement - and he said the CPSU was certainly prepared to try to do that.
Asked what would happen if his union rejected the outcome while other unions accepted it, he said he had no comment on that at this stage.
He said they should see if they can do a deal first.
General Secretary of the Public Services Executive Union Tom Geraghty said there was still a lot of work to do, but that with hard work shown last night, he would be reasonably confident they would get there.
Asked whether he was equally confident his members would accept the outcome of the negotiations, he said they would have to wait and see what emerges before making that judgement.
All parties expect the talks to run through the night.
Go-slow
Public service unions have been engaged in a go-slow industrial action for two months in protest at pay cuts.
Labour Relations Commission Chief Executive Kieran Mulvey said that negotiators had 'brought a lot of the issues a long way' in yesterday's marathon talks.
However, the crucial issue of pay has yet to be tackled.
Also contentious are proposals in the health sector for the introduction of a 12-hour working day, removing weekend premium pay rates, and outsourcing services.
Public service unions are seeking the reversal of pay cuts introduced in last year's Budget.
In turn, they would reform work practices in order to deliver savings, which may form the basis for any money to be given back to staff.
However, it is understood a clause would allow the Government to defer any payments if the economy deteriorates further.
If a reform agenda for the various sectors of the public service can be finalised the negotiators will broach the key issue of pay.
Any potential deal will have to be balloted on by union members.
As yet, it is unclear what will happen if any union rejects the outcome of the talks.
