Representatives of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association will meet today to consider proposals for a new working contract tabled by the Health Service Executive last night.
For new consultants doing public work only, a salary scale of between €198,000 and €216,000 a year will apply.
Consultants opting to also do a limited amount of private work will be paid a lower salary, of between €175,000 and €190,000 a year.
Existing consultants who insist on keeping their current contracts and the right to a larger amount of private work, will be paid between €156,000 and €171,000 a year.
The hours of work for new consultants will be 39 hours a week, delivered between 7am to 10pm weekdays.
Some consultants will be required to be available at weekends and ensure services are provided in some specialties on a 24-hour basis.
The contract also says that if a consultant helps in the discovery of a treatment or invention, the Health Service Executive will own the discovery.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio's Morning Ireland, Fintan Hourihan of the Irish Medical Organisation said there are new issues of concern in the document.
He said the contract itself came as a surprise, given that up to now they had been dealing with the many issues on an item-by-item basis.
He also said the draft contained new ideas which had not been presented to them up to now, and they will require some serious consideration.
Mr Hourihan also said there were issues regarding pay, hours of work, and new eligibility regulations.
