Industrial action by doctors will not take place during talks

Proposed industrial action by doctors in hospitals will not take place while talks on a new contract are taking place, the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has said.

Discussions on Friday between the Minister for Health Simon Harris and the IMO on a new contract for consultants to facilitate the ending of private practice in public hospitals were described as “constructive”.

Mr Harris said he was encouraged by the meeting and said the IMO were “up for doing business”.

“They recognise, as do we , that the status quo cannot continue.”

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He said both he and the IMO agreed on the need to hire an additional 1,000 consultants and that formal talks now needed to take place “on the detail on how we make that work in a practical sense”.

The Minister said he expected formal talks to get underway at the end of January or early February. He said these should last a number of weeks.

He said he wanted to appoint consultants who would only work in the public hospital system from later this year.

Dr Matthew Sadlier of the IMO said the meeting with the Minister had been constructive.

He said while the IMO had a mandate to go on strike over pay issues, there would be no industrial action while talks with the Government on a new contract were underway.