The Chairman of the Public Sector Unions Committee has said he is confident ‘if the will is there’ that an agreement on public sector pay will be possible at the end of a final phase of negotiations which began today.
Peter McLoone said ‘at the end of it we will either have a successful outcome or the talks will have broken down’.
Kieran Mulvey of the LRC is bringing unions and Government officials together today for round table negotiations among all sectors in the public service.
Mr McLoone said ‘both sides recognise it is possible to make an agreement although the issues are very challenging for both sides’.
It had been hoped talks could conclude by Sunday, but union sources believe they may stretch into early next week.
Yesterday, delegates at the Civil Public and Services Union conference in Galway voted to escalate their industrial action if the intensive talks fail to reach a deal.
This includes full strike action at the Passport Office in Dublin from as early as next week.
There were chaotic scenes outside the Passport Office this week as staff engaged in a work-to-rule as part of the campaign to reverse public sector pay cuts.
