The Irish Medical Organisation will decide today on whether to ballot its consultant and Non-Consultant Hospital Doctor (NCHD) members for industrial action.
Hospital consultants have never taken strike action in Ireland but NCHDs have on a number of occasions.
A ballot is expected to provide for industrial action, up to and including strikes, according to RTE.
The IMO had given the Government a 21-day deadline to table serious proposals to deal with what the union says is a consultant recruitment crisis and the issue of pay parity for more recently appointed consultants.
A national meeting in Dublin this evening is expected to endorse the move to ballot members.
It remains unclear exactly what form any industrial action by IMO consultants and NCHDs would take.
It could involve a work-to-rule, with doctors withdrawing from non-contractual duties.
If it proceeded, it also might in time affect outpatient clinics and planned operations.
The IMO described the first found of talks with the Department of Health last month as disappointing.
The union has said it is prepared to discuss reform in the health service with the Government but that it can only do so when all consultants are starting from the same pay point.
A strike by IMO Non-Consultant Hospital Doctors in the late 80s over working hours lead to the formation of a rival body for consultants, the Irish Hospital Consultants Association, which has a no-strike clause in its constitution.
