Organisations representing hospital consultants will meet today and on Monday to decide whether to accept or reject last ditch proposals put forward in an attempt to reach agreement on a new contract for their members.
The final proposals from the independent chairman of the consultant contract negotiations, Mark Connaughton SC, were accepted yesterday by Minister for Health Mary Harney and Health Service Executive chief executive Prof Brendan Drumm.
The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) will consider them at its annual conference in Dublin today and the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) meets on Monday to discuss them.
The indications were last night that while the IHCA and IMO are happy with some of the proposals, they are deeply unhappy at the proposal that consultants be rostered to be on site in hospitals for five hours on Saturdays and Sundays.
Furthermore, the issue of how much consultants would be paid if they agreed to the new contracts - which would see them rostered to work in teams 37 hours a week and over 12-hour days - remains a significant stumbling block.
They have been offered up to €216,000 a year if they sign up to contracts to work in public hospitals only and up to €190,000 a year if they sign up to contracts allowing them do both public and private work in public hospitals or co-located private hospitals.
No more than 20 per cent of their work under these contracts could be private practice.
Ms Harney and the HSE want the issue of pay to be decided now by the Review Body on Higher Remuneration in the public sector but the IHCA and IMO have always objected to this.
The HSE said it did not know how much money consultants were looking for.
Donal Duffy, assistant general secretary of the IHCA, said consultants wanted the issue of pay decided on within the negotiations.
Fintan Hourihan, director of industrial relations with the IMO, said he believed Mr Connaughton's proposals would bring the resolution of issues between the sides "closer" but there was still a need for discussions between employers and unions on a number of issues.
"I wouldn't see it as being all over bar the shouting," he added.
At a press briefing in Dublin, Ms Harney said the proposals put forward by Mr Connaughton would see consultants available in hospitals to discharge patients seven days a week.
Asked what would happen if consultants rejected the proposals, she said: "This is the end of this process and we do not envisage putting another process in place." She hoped the IHCA and IMO would accept the proposals.
Prof Drumm indicated that there had been compromises on all sides. The HSE had initially ruled out any form of contract allowing off-site private practice but Mr Connaughton has recommended that this be allowed in "exceptional" circumstances.
Existing consultants cannot be forced to change over to new contracts, even if they are agreed.