Talks on a new public sector pay deal involving unions, staff associations and the Government are expected to begin next week.
The sides have been invited by the Workplace Relations Commission to commence negotiations on Monday afternoon.
Yesterday, unions accepted an invitation from the Government to enter talks but said they want to focus on a short-term deal.
They also expressed disappointment at the Government's response to their request for clarity on the upcoming negotiations.
The Public Services Committee (PSC) of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) wrote to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe seeking clarity on whether the talks will include discussions around the removal of emergency industrial relations legislation introduced during the financial crisis.
The unions said the minister's statement, that he "was not aware of any practical impact that the Financial Emergency measures in the Public Interest (No 2) Act, 2009 has on the conduct of normal industrial relations in the public service" will come as a surprise to industrial relations practitioners on both the trade union and management sides.
"In accordance with the decision of the meeting of all 19 ICTU PSC affiliates last week, the union negotiators, in discussions at the Workplace Relations Commission, will now concentrate on trying to reach agreement on short-term pay measures to address cost-of-living and labour market pressures," the unions said in a statement.
Mr Donohoe has said that he is willing to engage, in the context of the Workplace Relations Commission, on the issue of the last remaining elements of the 2009 emergency legislation.
If the talks are successful, it will mean a pay increase for 385,000 public servants including nurses, doctors, gardaí and teachers.
The current public sector pay deal, Building Momentum, is due to expire at the end of the year and unions have said that a successor agreement needs to be ratified before the current deal ends.
