IT now appears likely a strike by 3,500 paramedics in the health services will go ahead on Monday.
If it does, childcare services, treatment for patients recovering from strokes and major operations, as well as the work of voluntary agencies such as the Central Remedial Clinic and Rehab, will be seriously disrupted.
Talks between the paramedics union, IMPACT, and the Health Service Employers Association (HSEA) have been deadlocked since Thursday.
Yesterday the Labour Relations Commission, which is arbitrating between the two sides, referred the issues back to the Government to see if any additional funding could be provided to help resolve the dispute.
Last night a spokesman for the Department of Finance said there was no question of extra money being made available. The Government did not accept the paramedics' claim that they had a pay link with nurses. "The nurses claim was recommended by the Labour Court, which said it was exceptional, and the Government felt bound to accept it."
Asked if the Government was making an example of paramedics to avert pay claims from other public service unions, he said "There is no question of hanging people out to dry. If people decide to breach an agreement [the Programme for Competitiveness and Work] they signed up for, they are choosing to do it themselves. So be it."
The nurses' settlement had required savings from every Government Department, he said. "We understand people want more and we are willing to give more, but in the form of tax concessions to everyone.
However, the general secretary of IMPACT, Mr Peter McLoone, said the Government was making a serious mistake. Agreements going back to 1979 established clear pay links between nurses and paramedics.
Management had resisted all attempts by paramedics to seek improvements in wages and conditions on the basis of their link to nurses. "We will produce documents in management's own words predicting the end of the world if this linkage was ended."
The employers' spokesman, Mr Gerard Barry of the HSEA, said: "We don't accept that old pay links hold good in every situation and this is particularly the case in a pay restructuring context like the PCW. The nurses were very much a once off situation and it was universally recognised that this was the case.
Efforts to resolve the dispute will continue during the weekend but there was little optimism that a settlement could be reached.
IMPACT members include speech therapists, social workers physiotherapists, dietitians, audiometricians, chiropodists and occupational therapists.