Hospital Consultants Pay Deal At Crucial Stage

Talks are underway to avert the virtually unthinkable scenario of senior medical professionals in Ireland going on strike.

However, late night negotiations between hospital consultants and their health service employers on new contracts were said to be making progress this week.

The talks in Dublin were a last-ditch attempt to strike a deal on new consultants' contracts and avoid another bitter row between employers and medics.

While the Health Service Executive remained optimistic a deal was possible, doctors representatives warned several crucial areas had yet to be resolved.

The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) joined the Irish Medical Organisation in insisting much progress was needed for an eleventh hour deal.

"We are going into this more in hope than in expectation, but we are prepared to stick with this until we get a satisfactory agreement," said an IHCA spokesman.

As the talks began in central Dublin, the HSE maintained an optimistic approach with officials privately insisting they were confident an agreement could be reached.

In an effort to demonstrate desire to resolve the four-year-old impasse, management were led into negotiations by Michael Scanlan, Secretary General of the Department of Health and HSE Chief Executive Professor Brendan Drumm.

Progress was said to have been extremely slow despite several hours of hard bargaining.

The Irish Medical Organisation said it was maintaining an open mind but cautioned against being too hopeful.

"Until there is agreement reached in full, nothing is agreed," said an IMO spokeswoman.

(BMcC)