Senior health service management sources believe tomorrow could be a crunch day for the negotiations on a new agreed contract for hospital consultants.
The State's two top health service administrators, secretary general of the Department of Health Michael Scanlan and HSE chief executive Prof Brendan Drumm will attend the negotiations, which Government sources are saying will represent a final deadline for the talks process.
Sources said Mr Scanlan and Prof Drumm will remain at the talks until it becomes clear whether or not there will be a deal.
Chairman of the talks senior counsel Mark Connaughton is understood to have identified a number of issues still outstanding between HSE management and medical organisations in a letter issued on Thursday night. Among these issues are pay, private practice, hours of work and disciplinary procedures. Mr Connaughton is understood to have suggested some ways in which progress could be made. However, informed sources said at the weekend that at this stage they did not see any great grounds for optimism.
The health service management have offered salaries of up to €235,000 per year for a new contract, which would involve doctors working over an extended day.
It is expected that if no agreement is reached the Government will move unilaterally to recruit new consultants on revised terms and conditions.
However, this is expected to be strongly opposed by medical organisations.
Prof Drumm said last week that a point had now been reached "where one way or the other a decision finally, finally, has to be made".
"I believe that we will either have or won't have a consultant contract agreed next week," Prof Drumm said.