The Finance Minister Michael Noonan has warned that extending the pay deal given to gardaí across the public service is simply not affordable.
The Cabinet will discuss the Labour Court ruling tomorrow, and is unlikely to reject it.
However Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald will be told the extra money will have to come from within her existing resources.
The Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donoghue 's to meet trade unions this week to warn them the public finances cannot afford knock-on claims.
Speaking in Brussels at a Eurozone Finance ministers meeting, Michael Noonan said the pay deal given to Gardaí was not expected and cannot be replicated across the public service.
"The proposals of the Labour Court were more generous than the Government anticipated," he said, "and even though they are constructed very, very carefully, and are within the Lansdowne Road Agreement, they are still more generous than was anticipated either by the Government or the wider trade union movement."
"It's simply not affordable if that was extended across the board, but there was always provision within Lansdowne Road to tailor settlements towards individual difficulties in different sectors.
"That was what was done here. It was done previously within farming and primary teachers."
The Taoiseach Enda Kenny has also warned he would not be opening the purse strings for the public sector, saying the economy is not strong enough yet to support that.