Industrial action costs consultants 2% pay rise

Hospital consultants will not get a 2% pay increase because of their industrial action, the Government said tonight.

The Department of Health and Children said it will not sanction the payment to members of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA), which was due to be paid on June 1.

The wage rise was due under the partnership agreement, Towards 2016.

The IHCA said it is disappointed with the announcement and plans to appeal the decision.

"One of the hallmarks of Towards 2016 is it encourages a stable industrial relations climate," said Donal Duffy, the association's assistant secretary general.

"A provision of that is uninterrupted services and our consultants have not interrupted services to patients."

More than 1,000 consultants voted to take industrial action following a dispute over contracts being offered to 68 new consultants.

The senior doctors are boycotting meetings with health service employers and have stopped providing cover for colleagues on leave, except in emergencies.

They have also refused to be involved in the recruitment of the new consultants.

The IHCA is in disagreement over the Government's plan to appoint new consultants on terms which have not been agreed by the association.

Minister for Health Mary Harney previously said there would be no pause in the recruitment process of new consultants, despite the campaign of industrial action.

She said that the 68 new posts, which consultants want to block, have been advertised for patient services where they are badly needed.

Meanwhile, more than 30,000 nurses and midwives today stopped a nationwide work to rule after voting to accept a 1.5 hour reduced working week from next June with the possibility of further reductions.

The Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) and Psychiatric Nurses' Association (PNA) were seeking a 10.6% pay rise and a 35-hour working week.

The INO said 54 % of its members voted in favour of the proposals, with 46% against, while results from a PNA ballot will be known on June 5.