The social partners are assembling at Government Buildings this afternoon in a last ditch bid to secure a new national pay agreement.
Sources acknowledge that if a deal cannot be done within the next 24 hours, the process is likely to be stalled until September at the earliest.
However, at the moment employers and unions are still deadlocked on a number of key issues - and there is no sign of any compromise on the crucial question of pay.
After months of apparently fruitless negotiations, yesterday the Government finally presented draft written compromise proposals on a number of key issues on the social partnership agenda.
Employers and unions have been considering those proposals overnight, and settling down for a make or break session at Government Buildings.
However, a new national wage agreement is by no means guaranteed.
Employers are refusing to budge on granting better representation rights for unions.
For their part, unions are holding firm on equal treatment for temporary agency workers.
And all of that has to be sorted before the key question of pay can be addressed.
It is expected that the Government will try to find some process to park collective bargaining and agency workers and allow them to move on to discuss pay.
But on pay, there is a huge chasm between what employers say they can afford - nothing - and what workers say they need - pay rises to at least keep pace with inflation at 5%.
