Fresh contract talks deadline for consultants

FAILURE to reach agreement on a new hospital consultants contract has forced the Government to extend the talks deadline by another three weeks.

March 27 had been set by Health Minister Mary Harney as the date when “a final, conclusive report” on the talks would be presented to Government. Ms Harney had said she was “not prepared to let fruitless discussions drag on without results”.

However yesterday, with a number of contract issues still unresolved, Ms Harney agreed to extent the time for talks until April 17.