The IMO has commenced a ballot of doctors employed across the public health system on industrial action, up to and including strike action. 

The ballot is a response to Government inaction on a new public sector pay deal and failure to conclude local bargaining arrangements due under the last agreement. The current public service agreement expired in July 2026 and, to date, the Government has not engaged on a successor agreement.

The IMO is recommending to members that they vote yes in the ballot on industrial action, which will close on Monday 21^st September 2026.

These members include consultants, non-consultant hospital doctors, and public and community health doctors.

Note: General Practitioners will not be balloted as they are independent contractors and not directly employed by the HSE.

While industrial action and particularly strike action would be a last resort, the IMO has made it clear to members that unless there is immediate and serious engagement by Government and the HSE, it will not hesitate to use it to bring about much-needed agreement.  

The IMO is asking its members for a Yes vote and, at the end of the ballot, the national specialty committees and council will meet to determine the nature of industrial action.

It said that, regrettably, the only narrative heard from the Government about our health services is overspending in the health system and cost-cutting – this reductive and unhelpful blame game does not reflect the day-to-day lived experience of doctors and other healthcare workers struggling to deliver care in an environment that is understaffed and facing increasing demand and pressures from a growing and ageing population.