Talks aimed at resolving breach of contract actions by hospital consultants against the Health Service Executive and the State are continuing, the High Court has heard.
Claims have been brought by hundreds of consultants alleging breach of contract in relation to agreed pay promises in the 2008 consultants’ contract. These are being opposed by the State and the HSE, which face an estimated bill of €700 million if the claims are sucessful.
The hearing of several lead cases in the dispute was due to open last week but was adjourned to Tuesday to facilitate talks aimed at resolving the dispute.
Ms Justice Úna Ní Raifeartaigh was on Tuesday asked by the parties to allow them additional time to see if the talks could produce a resolution.
The case was put back to the afternoon but, just after 3.20pm, the court was asked to put the cases back to Wednesday morning to see if progress could be made overnight.
The judge said the court was in “limbo” and hoped there would be “some clarity” by Wednesday as to whether the cases were going ahead or not.
The consultants are represented by John Rogers SC, Michael Cush SC, Gerard Durcan SC and Alex White SC.
The HSE and the State are represented by Eoin McCullough SC, Elieen Barrington SC, Marguerite Bolger SC and Paul Sreenan SC. The cases centre around a contract where pay increases were agreed for consultants in return for them adopting new working conditions from July 2008 onwards, including bringing their working week from 37 to 39 hours.