Talks aimed at securing agreement on a new hospital consultants' contract are continuing this evening.
During a break in the negotiations tonight, Finbarr Fitzpatrick of the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association said some progress had been made and it may be possible to agree certain elements of a contract.
HSE Chief Executive Professor Brendan Drumm said he wants a deal by tonight's deadline.
Going into the meeting, Professor Drumm had said a hugely generous offer had been made to consultants and he did not expect any major change at the talks in terms of the pay scale on offer.
He said that a new contract was desperately needed to improve access for patients to the public health system.
Fintan Hourihan of the Irish Medical Organisation insisted that doctors would stay at the talks for as long as necessary and the IMO was anxious to reach agreement.
Finbarr Fitzpatrick of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association said he was not overly confident that a deal would be reached today. He said that the best that might be achieved would be to get agreement in principle on some of the major outstanding items.
According to the two unions the main outstanding issues are pay, limits on private practice and hours of work.
These negotiations have gone on for over two years, and several deadlines have passed, without agreement.
If the talks fail, the Government may revive its plan to appoint all new consultants under its terms, a move which would be opposed by consultants.
