Government and IMO deal to create dozens of public health consultant jobs

THE Government has reached a deal with the Irish Medical Organisation to create, for the first time, 84 consultant-grade public health positions.

The deal will see the HSE create 34 new consultant posts in public health over the next year, with a further 30 coming in by June 2022 and June 2023.

The final 20 posts will be filled before the end of 2023.

This resolves a dispute between the Government and public health doctors that has been ongoing for 20 years. There are currently no consultant-grade posts in public health.

Appointments will be made on the common consultant contract.

The public health committee of the IMO is recommending its members accept the deal when it goes to ballot.

Speaking on the agreement, incoming chairperson of the IMO pubic health committee, Dr Anne Dee, said this deal was a ‘culmination of a 20-year campaign to put Irish public health medicine on par with the rest of the medical profession’.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly welcomed the development.

In December, public health doctors announced that they would be going on strike in January over the lack of consultant positions in their speciality. The strike was called off as the scale of the pandemic’s third wave became apparent.