Intensive efforts to rescue the social partnership process will be made next week when employers, unions and the Government attempt to secure a new pay deal.
A 5 per cent pay increase broken into two stages has emerged as a possible formula to bridge the gap between the two sides, which has widened as a result of the Budget.
There is increasing pessimism, however, that a deal can be done, and a return to free-for-all pay bargaining for the first time since the 1980s is on the cards.