A committee of the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) is to attend talks aimed at resolving a dispute over junior doctors working hours.
3,000 non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHD) withdrew their services yesterday in the dispute, resulting in the cancellation of 15,000 appointments and surgeries, which ended at midnight last night.
The junior doctors want hospitals to implement the European Union (EU) Working Time Directive and end the practice of shifts of longer than 24 hours.
Yesterday evening the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) issued an invitation to the IMO to attend talks. The Taoiseach Enda Kenny had also appealed to the IMO to go back to talks.
This followed a letter from the HSE, which the IMO says "indicated that it accepted the need for financial sanctions to be in place to prevent excessive working hours".
At a meeting this morning, the NCHD Committee of the IMO agreed to attend at the talks today to hear the views of the HSE.
An IMO spokesman today said "We will attend at the LRC with a view to hearing what the HSE has to say in respect of sanctions and other issues".
"The ball is now in their (HSE) court if they wish to avoid an escalation of the dispute" he added.
Speaking earlier, Stephen McMahon from the Irish Patients Association says any sanctions over working hours should be against managers rather than hospitals.
