The organisation representing the majority of hospital consultants in the State now believes a deal on a new contract for its members can be reached within months.
The secretary general of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) Finbarr Fitzpatrick said agreement had been reached on many aspects of a new contract and while some items including pay remained to be negotiated he believed a final deal could be reached within a matter of month.
The IHCA voted almost unanimously at the weekend to support, with some reservations, the report circulated late last week by the independent chairman of the negotiations Mark Connaughton SC which contained recommendations on how a number of final obstacles to agreement might be reached. It also outlined how consultants should work 37 hours a week (they are currently contracted to work 33 hours), be rostered to work on site in hospitals between 8am and 8pm Monday to Friday and for five hours on Saturdays and Sundays.
The Irish Medical Organisation, which also represents consultants, will meet today to discuss Mr Connaughton's report and it is also expected to accept his recommendations.
The IHCA said it would remain available for "intensive negotiations" with the HSE and the Department of Health with the aim of reaching final agreement on a new contract as soon as possible.
Minister for Health Mary Harney welcomed the IHCA's decision and said she felt the essence of a new contract was agreed. There could be no question of negotiations continuing for another several years, she warned.
"The nitty gritty as far as I'm concerned is now agreed, the shape of a new contract is there."
She said she now wanted to proceed with the recruitment of extra consultants into the Irish health service to reduce its over-dependence on junior doctors. New consultants will only be offered the new contracts and Ms Harney said she hoped consultants already in the service would change over to the new contracts, but they cannot be forced into doing so without the issue of compensation arising.
On the issue of pay for consultants who take on the new contracts she told the This Week programme on RTÉ radio yesterday: "I accept that the pay issue . . . has not yet been agreed between both sides. The figure on offer from the Government and employers of €216,000 for type A contracts . . . has not yet been accepted. But I believe with Mark Connaughton's help and under the auspices of the Higher Review Group we can agree that very quickly."
Dr David O'Keeffe, president of the IHCA, claimed the issue of pay was "never discussed across the table" at the talks but he said the sides were now closer to an overall agreement. "I think that what binds us together is greater than what separates us," he said.
On pay he said the IHCA's main concern was that if they were offered a salary for extended working hours that they didn't end up with a reduced hourly rate. He refused to say how much consultants wanted to be paid. "Our concern is that . . . people . . . after doing verifiable work in the public hospital, are free to work hard in the private sector and make an income for themselves there," he said.
Mr Connaughton has recommended they should be allowed spend no more than 20 per cent of their time on private patients.
Dr O'Keeffe said he did not believe there were sufficient staff in the health service to have consultants on site in hospitals 24 hours a day seven days a week as envisaged. There would need to be an almost eight-fold increase in staff in certain specialities to provide that service, he said.
He added that any new contract would have to attract the majority of existing consultants or "chaos" would result with different terms applying to different workers.