Hospital consultants have said the proposed terms of a new contract agreement on offer from health service employers are "less attractive" than a proposal they have already rejected.
And the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association (IHCA) questioned whether the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the Government really wanted to negotiate a new consultants' contract.
Following talks today, the IHCA contract negotiating committee said it had reviewed the draft contract that was sent to it late yesterday by the HSE.
"The committee has concluded that this is less attractive than the document tabled last April, which was rejected," the IHCA said in a statement.
"In light of that, we must question whether the HSE and the Department of Health and Children actually want to negotiate a new contract now."
The statement said that amongst the issues of concern were the hours of work proposed, the question of advocacy by consultants, co-located hospitals and being asked to work "longer hours at unsociable times for a lower hourly rate of pay".
"The Irish healthcare system has recruited and retained world-class consultants. The proposals currently presented will make that much more difficult in the future," the IHCA said.
The IHCA said it would give a detailed response to the independent chairman of the negotiations, Mark Connaughton SC outlining what it "we believe would be acceptable" to consultants.
No timetable was given for the response.
Salary scales of up to €216,000 have been offered for consultants who take a new contract which would see them work exclusively in public hospitals.
The new salary scales represent increases of up to €18,000 in some instances over those proposed earlier this year.
Two types of consultant contracts are on offer - one which would restrict the consultants to working in the public hospital system with no private practice rights and a second which would allow them to take on fee-paying patients.
Under the current proposal, the consultants who opt to take the second type of contract would be paid less by the State than those who opted to take on public hospital work exclusively.
The deal would see consultants in future working as part of teams over an extended working day.
They would be rostered from 7am to 10pm from Monday to Friday. On Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays management is seeking to have a "structured" consultant presence in the hospital for a five-hour period in the morning and in the afternoon.
The draft contract also proposes new restrictions on private practice for consultants in emergency medicine, radiology and pathology.
The Irish Timesreported today that consultants who are members of the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) have been "unanimously negative" in their response to the revised contract on offer.