There's been a mixed reaction from consultants to a new public-only consultant contract, agreed by Cabinet.
That's according to UHW Consultant, Rob Landers, who is President of the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association.
The contract would see doctors rostered on a Monday to Saturday basis and paid up to €250,000 a year.
They will have to work a 37-hour week; 8am-10pm from Monday to Friday and 8am-6pm on a Saturday.
Mr Landers told WLR that questions remain about whether or not it will be attractive enough to fill the 900 vacant consultant posts in the country, but that overall it's not a bad package.
"There was a few things going on that we would like to have finished out on and we didn't quite get there, but it's not a bad compromise," Mr Landers told Déise Today.
On top of the 900 vacant jobs, a further 3,000 consultants would be needed.
Mr Landers says he feels the compromise was fair as neither the state nor the hospitals got exactly what they wanted.
There will be an information giving and consultation phase before consultants decide whether they want to accept the contract.
A National Council meeting is being held on Saturday to discuss whether the contract will be recommended to members of the Association.
When asked whether he would recommend accepting it now, Mr landers said it's "too early" to tell, but that there are pros and cons to this 90 page legal document.
When discussing this and the health sector in general, Mr Landers says he is unsure whether the Health Minister will remain in the same position in a few weeks.
He added that Stephen Donnelly comes across much better in person than he does via television and radio.
"He's quite a warm person, understands the services, wants to understand them, and I think tries to do the right thing," Mr Landers said.
The pay scale
The new contract would see consultants paid between €209,000 and €252,000 on a six point scale.
If applicable, the consultant would still receive remuneration for on-call duties and overtime.
Irish Hospital Consultants' Association negotiated on behalf of members to increase the top pay scale by up to a quarter of a million.
Talks of a new contract began in May 2021. Back then, the salary range proposed was between €189,000 and €227,000.
"One of the big pluses in this new contract is it redresses the discrimination that was applied to new consultants," Mr Landers said.
Because of this, there are consultants in the same corridor as him being paid 30% less despite doing the same job.
On the contrary, there was previously a case where one consultant had been paid €735,000 in one year, something Damien described as "scandalous."
He then asked would it be possible for this to happen again.
"I don't know the individual case there, but you can be rest assured that that consultant was probably working every single night, every single weekend, 365 days a year," Mr Landers answered.
He then added that the consultant was probably doing the work of four or five people as he should have had that many colleagues and didn't.
Sláintecare
When discussing Sláintecare, Mr Landers had been quite critical about some aspects of it while also claiming he wants free healthcare for all.
There had been an initial 10 year plan for Sláintecare, but after five years, it seemed things weren't going accordingly.
"We have seen waiting lists climbing, vacancies climbing, very little progress, and no increase in bed capacity," Mr Landers said.
According to Damien, Sláintecare hasn't been fully adapted, even though the new contracts are one aspect of it.
Mr Landers says that through Sláintecare, the community side has gotten "massive increases" in funding, but that "hasn't resulted in reduced admissions."
Therefore, he concludes that it isn't working.
Other contracts
At the moment, there are three or four different contracts for consultants.
Mr Landers predicts that those on older contracts will not accept the new one as it won't make too much of a difference to them.
Where difficulty will lie, according to him, is with rostering.
Clinical Directors have the responsibility of creating work schedules, and with the new contract, some consultants can be rostered to work on a Saturday, but others cannot.
This is something that Mr Landers has described as "tricky."
He will now travel around the country explaining the finer details of the new contract.
Following that, he will announce whether the Association is in support of the new contract terms.
It's predicted that that statement will come in the new year.
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