The Government is expected to advertise for about 200 hospital consultants following the decision by members of the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO)to back revised pay proposals.
Under revised proposals which were drawn up by the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) earlier this month, consultants working exclusively in the public hospitals could reach the maximum pay rate of €175,000 at a faster rate than previously envisaged.
The IMO said the proposed deal had been accepted by a margin of 60 per cent to 40 per cent.
However it said the vote in favour was “heavily qualified” and signalled it would be seeking further improvements in terms and conditions for hospital consultants in forthcoming talks with the Government on pay across the entire public service.
The Minister for Health Leo Varadkar said the HSE would now advertise posts where there were vacancies as a priority.
He said he expected the new pay scales and the improved salaries “will help us to keep more of our graduates at home and persuade consultants who are working overseas to return to Ireland”.
"I want this new package to send a strong message to Irish medical graduates that pay, terms and conditions are improving again and that they can be part of the health recovery in Ireland. "
In October 2012 the Government unilaterally introduced a 30 per cent pay cut for all consultants appointed after that date, a move which critics maintained resulted in public hospitals being increasingly unable to fill posts .
About 300 consultant posts in public hospitals are currently vacant.
Last October IMO members overwhelmingly rejected previous pay proposals drawn up by LRC chief executive Kieran Mulvey.
The pay rates under the revised proposals remained unchanged from those set out in October but doctors would get to the top of the scale in nine years rather than 12 as previously proposed.
The revised proposals also clarified the operation of performance management arrangements that consultants would have to undergo to qualify for annual incremental increases.
For doctors working exclusively in public hospitals with no private practice – the so-called category A contract – the entry rate under the new proposals will be €127,000. This will increase on foot of nine performance-related incremental rises to a maximum of €175,000.
Doctors with experience can enter the Irish health system on the sixth point of the scale which has a pay rate of €155,000.
Heads of departments will receive up to €180,000 and clinical directors up to €190,000.
The new proposals indicate that in future consultants’ performances would be measured in relation to a number of criteria, including the extent of their private practice and other work that resulted in additional income.
Consultants with rights to carry out private practice will receive lower salaries as part of the proposals.
For consultants currently in post, the new pay rates will be back dated to last September.
IMO director of industrial relations Steve Tweed said the vote in favour was "a heavily qualified endorsement of proposals which mark the beginning not the end of our campaign for improved terms and conditions for consultants in Irish hospitals".
“We are warning the HSE and the Department not to overestimate the support they have received for these proposals. The ballot today will only mean anything if it is seen by the Government as the beginning of a concerted effort to return to equal pay for equal work.”
A second organisation representing senior doctors, the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) was not involved in the talks that led to the pay proposals as it has not signed up to the Haddington Road agreement on public service pay and productivity.
Last week the IHCA said the revised pay proposals were “discriminatory and are doomed to fail because they do not properly address the consultant recruitment crisis”.
The Department of Health said the revised pay rates would not be available to doctors who were not party to the Haddington Road deal.
