Up to €36,000 extra for on-call duties

The deal:Hospital consultants can potentially receive tens of thousands of euro in extra allowances and payments on top of salary under the new deal.

Doctors taking the new posts of clinical director, who will run teams of senior doctors, are to be paid an additional premium of €50,000.

In addition, overtime payments of up to €900 for work on Saturdays and up to €1,200 for Sunday will also be on offer to some doctors.

Consultants will also be able to earn up to €36,000 per year in allowances for the provision of out-of-hours emergency services.

Payments for consultants who are on standby to be called out to see patients in emergency circumstances will increase from €4,000 to €6,000 per year. This payment qualifies for pension purposes.

The deal will allow consultants who are rostered on call to receive up to €30,000 per year in allowances for being called in to the hospital to see patients in emergency circumstances.

The new rates for call-out allowances are set between €100 and €200 per hour. They are paid on a sliding scale depending on the number of times the consultant is called out per year.

The deal will see the cap on these call-out allowances increase from €23,000 to €30,000 annually. These allowances are paid on top of basic salary scales - which will range from €175,000 to €240,000 under the deal.

The new increases will be paid on a phased basis over the coming 18 months. The first half of the increases will be paid in June 2008 with the remainder falling due in June 2009.