There is still a "huge gap" between both sides in the public health doctors' strike despite a day of talks at the Labour Relations Commission yesterday.
The talks, aimed at solving the seven-week-old dispute, have been adjourned to next Tuesday.
In the meantime, the 270 doctors, who work to control the spread of infectious diseases such as measles, meningitis and SARS, remain on strike.
Yesterday, the Health Service Employers' Agency put forward proposals to end the strike but admitted that these did not include one of the main demands of the doctors' representative body, the Irish Medical Organisation. The IMO has sought consultant status for the most senior grades of public health doctor, including directors of public health and public health specialists, but the HSEA's head of industrial relations, Mr Brendan Mulligan, said that the IMO had been informed that this demand could not be met.
Public health doctors earn between €48,470 and €81,914. The pay scale of hospital consultants ranges from €114,718 to €142,406.
"We presented a paper to them setting out our thoughts on the future of the public health function. We have taken account of what was recommended in the Brennan review and the national health strategy," Mr Mulligan said. The Brennan review, published in 2002, included proposals for a properly-structured out-of-hours public health system, which the doctors have been seeking for the past nine years. Mr Mulligan said the fact that talks had begun was a welcome development, but he warned that there was "still a huge gap" between the parties. However, the fact that they were returning to the LRC was positive, he said.
The IMO's director of industrial relations, Mr Fintan Hourihan, said that yesterday was the first time proposals had been put forward by the employers' side to implement the Brennan review. While welcome, it was regrettable that this had not happened earlier, he said.