Varadkar offer fails to halt planned consultant strike

Planned strike action in the new year by consultants is to go ahead, despite a move by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to offer them up to €250,000-a-year public- only contracts.

The Taoiseach told the Dáil that the Government has agreed to appoint 1,000 additional hospital consultants over the next decade. The salary scale for the new public-only posts will range from €180,000 to €220,000 now, increasing to €250,000 next year.