The national council of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) has agreed to recommend the new consultants contract to it members ahead of a ballot which is to begin at the end of the month.
The council reached the unexpected decision this morning following what it described as "substantive high level meetings" with the Department of Health and the HSE.
The IHCA will now ballot its members on the document put forward from April 28th to May 9th.
Donal Duffy, assistant general secretary of the IHCA, said there were a number of points in the contract that had yet to be agreed and said that further meetings would take place in the coming days.
Both the Minister for Health, Mary Harney, and the HSE welcomed the IHCA decision to recommend the contract. Chief executive Prof Brendan Drumm said the new contract was an opportunity to "modernise the way health services are delivered", and that it was good for both patients and consultants.
However, the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has said it does not believe agreement on the proposed contract could be reached through direct negotiations with the HSE, and said mediation would be required.
"Consultants do not have confidence that agreement can be concluded in further direct talks with the HSE under the present circumstances. There has been no meaningful progress since February, despite relatively few areas of difference which are not insurmountable. If an agreed consultant contract is to be finalised, mediation will be required," said Fintan Hourihan, the IMO's director of industrial relations.
The organisation, which represents 850 consultants and over 4,500 non-consultant hospital doctors, made the decision at its meeting this morning.
The introduction of a new contract for hospital consultants is a key element of the Government's overall healthcare reform programme. If only some existing consultants signed up to the new contract, which provides for a longer working day and weekend work, it would make the Government's plans difficult to implement.
Heads of agreement on the new contract were agreed between employers and the IHCA in January but when it came to fleshing out the agreement, differences arose.
As it now stands consultants who sign up for the new contracts, and opt to work exclusively in the public sector, will be offered salaries of up to €240,000 a year.