More than 400 consultant posts left vacant as contract talks stall

Professor Alan Irvine, president of the IHCA, said the vacancies are an "unequivocal signal" doctors are leaving the system. 

There are now 837 consultant posts vacant or filled by temporary staff, with spiralling waiting lists predicted to keep growing unless recruitment is addressed.

That is according to the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA), which has found 412 of these posts are completely vacant without even a locum to see patients.