andMr. McQuillan asked the Minister for Health whether the Irish Medical Association may negotiate to finality with him on matters concerning salaries and general employment conditions of its members in the employment of local authorities and other employing bodies.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - IMA Negotiating Powers.
3.
The Irish Medical Association is not the holder of a negotiating licence nor is it an excepted body for the purposes of the Trade Union Act, 1941. Consequently, it is not at present entitled in law to negotiate on matters concerning salaries and general conditions of employment of its members.
I understand that the Association recently applied to the Minister for Industry and Commerce for recognition as an excepted body for the purposes of the Act. If the application is granted, the Association will be entitled to negotiate but such negotiation must necessarily take place with the employers of the doctors concerned or the representatives of such employers.
The Deputies will appreciate that, except for medical practitioners on the staff of the Department of Health and the Central Mental Hospital, Dundrum, the Minister for Health is not the employer of any group of doctors. He has certain functions, under the local government code, in relation to the remuneration of medical practitioners who are officers of health authorities and, by reason of his functions in relation to the revenue deficits of the voluntary hospitals participating in the Hospitals Sweepstakes, he may be said to exercise some influence over the remuneration of medical practitioners on the staffs of such hospitals; but he cannot usurp the functions of the employing authorities in either case.
Arising out of the latter part of the Minister's statement, is it not a fact that on a number of occasions the Minister has overridden the decision of the local authority in regard to the salaries of doctors?
I have on occasions——
The Minister has?
Will the Deputy allow me to finish? When individual officers in the service of the health authority have appealed against the decision of a health authority in relation to remuneration or conditions of employment, I have, as appeals officer, given certain decisions which may have overridden the decision of the health authority.
In other words, the Minister has power to override the health authority?
I have not the power to override the health authority, unless I am satisfied that an injustice has been done.
Yes. The Minister has the right to override the health authority.