Talks have concluded between health service managers and hospital consultants on new working arrangements.
But they have failed to reach agreement on the issue of pay for new consultants as well as rest days.
The government will now proceed with a 30% pay cut for new consultants despite the fact that the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) and the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) say they do not agree with the decision.
It means new consultants will earn €50,000 less than those currently working.
The issue of rest days will be referred to the Labour Court.
However agreement was reached on a number of other issues including rosters and new working arrangements for clinical directors.
The Minister for Health has said the consultant organisations have shown considerable leadership in agreeing to recommend crucial changes.
In a statement James Reilly said the changes are of vital financial importance and will pave they way for a better service for patients.
The IHCA Secretary-General Martin Varley says they could not agree to any deal which would see consultants work on-call for 26 days out of 28 which was proposed by the HSE.
He accepts that the issue of pay for new consultants is not a matter for the Labour Court and it does not fall under the auspices of the Croke Park agreement.
But he says they cannot support the proposal.
“We have had no proper consultation on the new hospital consulting grade – and that’s basically the issue” he said.
“It’s not included in Croke Park as far as we can establish; and therefore it hasn’t been dealt with in that context” he added.
National Director for Human Resources at the Health Service Executive (HSE) is Barry O’Brien.
He told Breakfast here on Newstalk the pay cut for new consultants is going ahead immediately regardless of the failure to reach an agreement.
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