The Department of Health has told hospital consultants it will not pay them a 2 per cent pay increase due on June 1st because of the industrial action they are engaged in.
More than 1,000 members of the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association (IHCA) commenced a work-to-rule on Monday in a dispute over the Minister for Health Mary Harney's decision to advertise 68 new consultants' posts without their input or agreement on the contracts offered.
IHCA assistant director general Donal Duffy
In a statement today, the Department said it had informed the IHCA that their pay increase will be withheld.
It said: "The Department of Health and Children today informed the Irish Hospital Consultants Association that, in view of the campaign of industrial action being undertaken by members of the IHCA, and, having regard to the terms of Towards 2016, it is not in a position to sanction payment of the 2 per cent general round increase due under the agreement, with effect from 1st June 2007, to members of the IHCA."
IHCA assistant director general Donal Duffy told ireland.comthe body had received a letter this evening from Michael Scanlan, secretary general of the Department of Health, informing it of the decision.
He said the IHCA was "exceedingly disappointed" that Mr Scanlan had taken the view that he has and that there was "some anger" at the decision.
Mr Duffy said one of the attractions of the Towards 2016partnership agreement was a stable industrial relations environment, one of the benefits of which was the uninterrupted provision of services. It was "inappropriate" that consultants were being penalised.
Mr Duffy said there is an appeal mechanism within the industrial relations framework, which will now be pursued by the IHCA.
Ms Harney said on Monday the industrial action would not deter her from continuing with the recruitment process.
She also said she did not believe efforts by the IHCA and the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO), which also represents hospital consultants but is not engaged in the action, to discourage junior doctors from applying for the jobs, would succeed.
Ms Harney said there was huge interest in the 68 consultants' jobs advertised last month, but it was unclear yet how many applications had been lodged for them.
The IHCA has urged doctors not to apply for the posts, claiming they will not have clinical independence to act in their patients' best interests.
It also claims the HSE will decided how, where and when they practice medicine, that they will be expected to work mostly at nights and at weekends for the first number of years of their appointment and that their rate of pay will be less than that of existing consultants.
As part of their action, IHCA members are refusing to take part in hospital and national committees and are no longer making themselves available for meetings with HSE senior management. They will also refuse to do work which would normally be done by locums, except in emergencies.
Ms Harney said salaries for the new jobs were very attractive.
A public-only contract, which means the consultant will not be allowed to take private patients, will pay €205,000 plus 20 per cent bonus plus a €20,000 on-call allowance.
The Minister said the total of €265,000 puts Ireland "way ahead of any other country in the OECD as far as a public salary is concerned".
The IHCA this week said it was amazing that the large sums of money were being discussed, since the negotiations on a new contract for consultants had stalled. No money had ever been discussed at the talks, Finbar Fitzpatrick of the IHCA said this week.
The IHCA pulled out of talks with health service employers last month after the posts were advertised.
Consultants say their action will be called off if the Minister gives a commitment that the new posts will be filled only on the basis of the current consultants' contract or on an agreed new one.