Derek Keating (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Question 567: To ask the Minister for Health in view of the recent disclosure of contracts entered into by the previous Government with hospital consultants related to one year's paid leave in lieu of time worked, if he will outline the cost of such contracts to the State; the date on which they were agreed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26228/11]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Dating back to the 1991 contract and earlier, consultants had an entitlement to rest days in lieu of extra days/hours worked. Consultant Contract 1997 provided for 'historic rest days' as a means of settling claims that consultants had not benefited from their full rest day entitlement. This allows them to take up to a year of such rest days – on full pay – prior to retirement and requires that they be replaced on a locum basis until their actual retirement date. In a number of instances, consultants offer to perform their own locum, effectively on double pay. Consultants who had established an entitlement to historic rest days maintained this under Consultant Contract 2008. The 2008 contract has a new mechanism for rest days whereby, on a quarterly basis, consultants must now take such leave days or forfeit them..

Approximately 450 Consultants remain eligible for historic rest days. The large majority of these are eligible for the full year of historic rest days, meaning that for a year prior to their retirement and the introduction of a permanent replacement, their employer must pay both for the consultant and – if services are to be maintained – for a locum. It is estimated that such contracts would cost the health service approximately €100 million in the period up to 2027, when the last of the cohort of eligible consultants is set to retire.

Historic rest days represent an anachronistic and costly means of compensating Consultants who did not receive their full complement of rest days in the period 1991 to 1997. The requirement that the full complement be taken immediately prior to retirement places a significant burden on the employer in terms of maintaining services and funding both the Consultant and their locum for up to a year.

Taking this into account, the HSE has recently tabled proposals under the Public Service Agreement 2010-2014 to the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association and Irish Medical Organisation, aimed at addressing this future liability for the health service. The matter is the subject of ongoing engagement between the parties.