A GP negotiator with the IMO, he told the meeting that assurances were given a month ago, that money would be paid by March 31st at the latest. "Some of this money is outstanding for up to three years," he said.
A last-minute intervention by the secretary general of the Department of Health, Mr Michael Kelly, last night defused a threat by GPs to disrupt the medical card scheme over unpaid fees.
Dr James Reilly, chairman of the GP committee of the Irish Medical Organisation, said he had "received personal assurances" from Mr Kelly that the issue would be dealt with early next week.
GPs are furious that they are owed on average €10,000 by the Government for a range of services including vaccinations and care of asylum-seekers.
Earlier yesterday doctors voted overwhelmingly in favour of charging medical card patients a token fee of €5 as a protest at the failure of the Health Services Employers Agency \ to pay the outstanding fees. They said the proceeds would go to charity.
Standing orders were suspended at the IMO meeting yesterday for an emergency motion to be put to the meeting. Dr Ronan Boland, a Cork City GP, introduced the motion, which read: "That in the event of the first tranche of monies outstanding not being paid by close of business on April 19th 2002, a token €5 charge be imposed on all GMS consultations from April 22nd 2002 and that all monies collected be donated to St Vincent de Paul." Dr Boland, said it was "born out of complete frustration and the fundamental loss of credibility of HSEA".
The issues in dispute include fees, staff payments and a commitment to carry out a work-load study. These were initially negotiated and agreed between last April and July. IMO sources have confirmed that family doctors are owed on average €10,000 each in back payments.
Dr Cormac McNamara, a past president of the IMO and an experienced industrial relations negotiator, said he was " never as humiliated in all his professional life. The process has an air of unreality." Before Mr Kelly's intervention, he expressed the hope that yesterday's motion would "shame the Department of Health into paying their bills".
Although the issue directly affects GPs, it received support from all craft groups within the union, with doctors expressing the view that they must send a strong signal to the Department of Health.
Dr Reilly said the part payment of monies owed from last year would suffice. It is understood that the GMS Payment Board, which pays salaries and employment grants to doctors, has the funds to pay some of the outstanding money. However, it had not yet received a clear directive to pay from the Department of Health in the form of a "executive letter of instruction".
Earlier in his address to the meeting the IMO chief executive, Mr George McNiece, referred to the declining industrial relations climate in the health sector. "Let there be no confusion in the matter, GPs in the general medical services were underpaid, or unpaid in respect of the April 2001 and over-70s agreement. This is all the more extraordinary when you consider that some of the monies involved represented not fees for doctors but partial reimbursement for support staff," he said.
Referring to a series of "Kafkaesque" meetings with the HSEA, he said it had reached a point where meetings and agreements no longer had any reality or value.
"In a long career in industrial relations I have never witnessed anything as bizarre," he said.