Partners bid to end pay deal impasse

A BREAK in the deadlock holding up agreement on a new national pay deal is hoped for today as all sides gear up to resume their marathon negotiations.

Pensions and social issues remain outstanding obstacles to a settlement.

Negotiations have already lasted longer than any other agreement talks and prompted Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to despair that it was not very “bright” to take five months to agree a deal which would last less than three years.