A backbench Fianna Fáil TD has expressed concern at the Government's plan to co-locate private hospitals on the campuses of eight public hospitals.
John McGuinness said Minister for Health Mary Harney should spell out very clearly how these hospitals would work and how the State will be paid for the lands on which they will be built.
"The public and a lot of politicians who are talking about this don't know how the whole system of co-located hospitals are going to work. And I think before any contracts are signed that needs to be spelt out . . . We need to understand they are not going to take away from the standards of delivery in the public health system," he said.
"I have a concern about them in that I don't know how they are actually going to fit into the health system we have at the moment and how they are going to operate," he added.
"There is not enough being said or explained about the co-located hospitals and Mary Harney has an obligation to explain that to everyone concerned," he continued.
The Carlow-Kilkenny TD said he wanted more investment in the public healthcare system. His comments followed his attendance at a conference at Dublin's Mansion House where doctors in the public healthcare system spelt out the need for greater investment in the public system and the need to dispel the myth that private care was better.
One doctor at the conference told how he hadn't been able to admit a single elective patient to St James's Hospital, Dublin, over the past five years. Prof John Nolan, a consultant endocrinologist, said these patients included those who had lost weight and needed scans or scopes or other tests. The only way into the hospital for them was through A&E.
"I think it reflects badly on us, it reflects badly on our hospital and it reflects badly on the health service," he said.
Prof Risteard Mulcahy told the conference that for the Government to push ahead with the co-location of private hospitals on public sites before the election when Opposition parties said they would rescind the decision if in power after it was "a bit like George Bush declaring war on Iran the month before he retires".
Ms Harney has said contracts will be signed for the construction of the private hospitals on public hospital sites within the next couple of weeks.