The decision by public health doctors to issue notice of strike action is "unwarranted and especially inappropriate", the Minister of State for Health said.
Mr Brian Lenihan said the notice from the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) on behalf of the 270 public health doctors was inappropriate because of the potential risk associated with SARS and other health issues.
He repeated his request to the IMO to either return to the Labour Relations Commission, which the Health Service Employers' Agency had agreed to do, or to attend the Labour Court.
Labour's health spokeswoman Ms Liz McManus said the Minister's "bland" offer to go to the Labour Court was "grossly inadequate". The issues were complex including that "public health doctors receive no payment for their out-of-hours work".
Ms McManus asked how would the Minister ensure that public health doctors would be in place from Monday onwards.
Mr Lenihan said the IMO strike committee would provide emergency cover where "there is a real and immediate risk to human life". He said the HSEA had confirmed it was "willing to make good any pay increases public health doctors may have lost out on because of the delay in completing the Brennan review".
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