The Department of Health is preparing to challenge a decision by a UK-based medical defence organisation not to cover up to 10 consultant obstetricians in the Republic against medical negligence claims.
Intensive talks have been taking place between officials from the Department of Health and the Attorney General's office on what form the challenge should take. A court challenge to the Medical Defence Union's (MDU) decision has not been ruled out.
"We intend to challenge it. How we do that is the subject of ongoing discussions," said a Department spokeswoman.
The MDU wrote this week to up to 10 obstetricians, who believed they were insured by the body, informing them it was refusing to cover claims made against them.
The consultants who received the letters have not been identified, but they work in private and public maternity hospitals.
The MDU, which has been in protracted negotiations with the Department of Health over who should cover claims against consultants for past events since the introduction of State liability for doctors and hospitals earlier this year, had been threatening for some time to refuse cover.
The Minister for Health, Mr Martin, condemned the MDU decision and accused it of "abandoning" its responsibilities to Irish obstetricians, some of whom paid subscriptions of up to €86,000 a year, with an expectation that they would be covered if cases of alleged negligence were taken against them.
Mr Martin urged the MDU to reverse its decision and allow the negotiations with the Department continue. They have allegedly been deadlocked over objections the MDU has to its books being examined by independent persons on behalf of the State.
The Department wants to establish what funds the MDU has to cover historic liabilities before it agrees to share some of the burden. The MDU claims it cannot afford the historic claims, which could amount to €400 million.
The secretary general of the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association, Mr Finbarr Fitzpatrick, said the consultants concerned were very worried.
He will meet Mr Martin next Wednesday to discuss the crisis and says any decision on further industrial action by the IHCA on the insurance issue will depend on the Minister's response.
"But it's likely that any significant decision will not be taken until our annual conference next month," he added.
The Irish Medical Organisation called for the immediate appointment of an independent person to chair the talks.
The MDU's chief executive, Dr Michael Saunders, said the Minister's request to the organisation to reverse its decision would be considered by the board of management later this month.
But he said the Department had frustrated the MDU's efforts to reach agreement. Both sides had last met in July and he had since been seeking a date for a further meeting to no avail.
It would, he said, be a waste of taxpayers' money for the State to mount a legal challenge to the MDU's position because matters could be resolved through negotiation.
He denied that the MDU was unhappy about having its books assessed independently.
But he said the MDU wanted to know in advance what questions the independent assessors wanted answered, and the Department would not supply these.