Hospital consultants will meet health employers today for talks on a new contract.
Representatives of the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association (IHCA), which represents about 1,800 consultants, will meet officials from the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the Department of Health in Dublin at 2pm.
IHCA secretary general Finbarr Fitzpatrick said the organisation felt the health service managers appeared to have lost the sense of urgency to complete the contract talks after agreement was reached on a number of major issues last month.
Mr Fitzpatrick said the IHCA felt it had to "chase" the HSE for meetings to finalise other details in the contracts that remained unresolved.
Under the deal agreed after marathon talks in January, consultants on the new Type A contract, with no private practice, will be paid up to €240,000.
Those on Type B contracts, with limited private practice in public hospitals will earn up to €220,000. Consultants on on Type C contracts, with off-site private practice rights, will get up to €175,000.
It is understood the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO), which represents about 800 consultants, will also attend today's talks. The IMO walked out of the talks last month but then re-entered them. It has not reached final agreement on the contracts.