Fianna Fáil was forced to clarify its costings for its hospital co-location plan today after confusion arose at its final press briefing of the general election campaign.
At the event in Fianna Fáil's campaign headquarters, senior ministers called upon a political adviser to the Minister for Finance to explain how Fianna Fáil would pay for the public-private partnership that will see private clinics built on the grounds of public hospitals.
The Government says the plan will free up 1,000 acute hospital beds, by transferring the 20 per cent of beds in public hospitals that are currently 'ring-fenced' for private patients to the new facilities.
Minister for Health Mary Harney has repeatedly said this proposal is the cheapest and fastest way to deliver the extra acute beds into the system.
Minister for Finance Brian Cowen had claimed the co-location plan would cost approximately €70 million per year to fund up to 2011, when the new hospital system is expected to be in place.
But Minister for Education Mary Hanafin today suggested the plan would cost €40 million per year.
When questioned further, neither Minister for Social Affairs Seamus Brennan nor Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern could explain the difference in the costings.
Party political adviser Colin Hunt eventually came to the rescue saying Mr Cowen's costings were accurate but had not included tax buoyancy figures, which Ms Hanafin's figure did.
He said the estimated capital cost of the co-location proposals was €1 billion. Nearly half a billion euro - €410 million - would be provided to private developers as a tax break.
Broken down further the accurate net figure was €40 million per year over seven years, he added.
Minister for Health Mary Harney instructed the Health Service Executive to begin the roll-out of the co-location plan two years ago. However, it is not expected that contracts can now be finalised before the new government is formed.
Ms Harney this evening rejected opposition criticism of her plan, accusing the Labour Party of attempting to confuse the public about its costs.
"The truth is simple. With the co-location idea, we will get 1,000 new public beds at less than half the building cost - about 40% - and at less than a third of the running cost."
"Only someone who was blinded by ideology would reject it."