State defends settling medics’ pay claim

The Government has defended settling a claim that will see hefty pay awards for thousands of hospital consultants at a time when 707,000 patients remain on waiting lists.

The deal is estimated to cost €182m in retrospective payments and will add €62m to the annual consultant pay bill from 2019, backdated to yesterday’s settlement.

It is thought individual consultants stand to gain between €55,000-€72,000 under the deal by 2022, depending on contract type, and taking into account the unwinding of cuts imposed during the economic crisis.