A new "more confident breed" of person will be applying for the recently advertised new hospital consultant posts in the health service, Minister for Health Mary Harney said yesterday.
Her comments came on the first day of industrial action by more than 1,000 hospital consultants over the decision to advertise 68 new consultant posts on terms which have not been agreed with their representative body, the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA).
Ms Harney said the industrial action would not deter her from continuing with the recruitment process.
And she 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.
"I don't believe it will. I mean there may well be some people who feel intimidated and feel they shouldn't apply, that they might be victimised in their place of work or their future might be jeopardised.
"But I can tell you there's a new more confident breed of person out there who will be applying and I've met many people who will be applying.
"I met two senior registrars in psychiatry in the last week who told me they'd be applying and I know of other people that will be applying, not just people in Ireland," she said.
She added that there was huge interest in the jobs but it was unclear yet how many applications had been lodged for them.
Members of the IHCA, as part of their campaign of action, are refusing to take part in hospital and national committees and are no longer making themselves available for any meetings with HSE senior management.
They will also refuse to do work which would normally be done by locums except in emergencies.
Ms Harney dismissed claims by the IHCA that the action would not have an impact on patients.
"I don't agree because the proper functioning of a hospital requires all the stakeholders in the hospital to co-operate and work together with the management and that is particularly the case with consultants," she said.
"And can I say it is very hard for the public to understand . . . how the consultants could be beginning industrial action today when they sought these extra appointments in rheumatology, in respiratory medicine, in psychiatry, in neurology for example.
"We know there are huge shortages here that lead to long delays for many patients," she added.
"We cannot have a closed shop situation where one group of incumbents decide that unless they agree the terms and conditions, nobody else can join the team and look after patient needs," she continued.
She stressed salaries for the new jobs were very attractive. "The salaries we are offering for a public-only contract is €205,000 plus 20 per cent bonus plus €20,000 on-call allowance. That brings it to €265,000 and that certainly puts Ireland way ahead of any other country in the OECD as far as a public salary is concerned."
Finbarr Fitzpatrick, secretary general of the IHCA, said it was amazing these large sums were being tossed out since the negotiations on a new contract for consultants had stalled.
No money had ever been discussed at the talks, he insisted.
He also rejected any suggestion that the IHCA action would affect patients and accused Ms Harney of scaremongering.
"Consultants will be attending fewer meetings and will therefore have more time to devote to patient care," he said.
The IHCA pulled out of talks with health service employers on a new contract last month after the posts were advertised. But Mr Fitzpatrick said the action would be called off if the Minister gave a commitment that the new posts would be filled only on the basis of the current consultants contract or on an agreed new one.