Agreement reached on intern pay

New interns working in the health service will be paid for induction, the IMO has announced.

Agreement was reached following negotiations with health management on the issue.

The agreement means that incoming interns will receive five additional paid days, worth over €700.

“This outcome is the result of hard work and grassroots organising through the IMO, led by your NCHD colleagues supported by all IMO members across all specialties,” according to the IMO.

“It is a significant victory and a big step forward in righting a wrong that was not defensible.”

At the Organisation’s AGM in May, IMO Director of Industrial Relations, NCHDs and Consultants, Mr Anthony Owens, told the Medical Independent that the possibility of industrial action would be examined if the HSE’s “promise” of initiating intern induction pay this year is not realised.

Mr Owens referred to the fact that the IMO has taken to the Workplace Relations Commission on behalf of interns over this issue.

Earlier at the AGM, HSE National Director of Human Resources Ms Rosarii Mannion told a forum with NCHDs: “My line on this is very simple. And I am obviously not holding the purse strings here, every payment we make must be approved by both the Department of Health and DPER but my line…if you are at your place of work at the request of the employer, you must be paid.”

Minister for Health Simon Harris also told delegates at the AGM that if a person was directed by their employer to be at work, they deserved to be paid.