Fine Gael insisted today that Fianna Fáil and the PDs have lied about the party's ability to deliver 2,300 new hospital beds if it forms a government after Thursday's general election.
Last week, Minister for Health Mary Harney, the Taoiseach, and a number of Fianna Fáil ministers accused Fine Gael of being unable to fund extra beds unless it withdraws funding from other key areas.
Fine Gael deputy leader Richard Bruton
However, speaking this afternoon, Fine Gael health spokesman Dr Liam Twomey accused the outgoing government of dishonesty and said a Fianna Fáil/Progressive Democrats coalition couldn't be trusted to deliver health services.
"The transition from spin to outright lies comes easy to Fianna Fáil and the PDs because they have nothing else to offer. They've been dishonest about Fine Gael's solid, costed proposals to deliver 2,300 extra acute beds out of National Development Plan (NDP) funding even though they broke their solemn promise to deliver 3,000 beds," said Dr Twomey.
"In reality if FF and the PDs are returned to Government there's a serious danger that they'll deliver even less beds in another five years than they did in the last five since they're only promising 500 beds outside of their dodgy co-location plan."
Under that plan, the government plans to free up 1,000 beds in public hospitals that are currently ring-fenced for private patients by allowing the construction of private hospitals alongside the public facilities. The 20 per cent of public beds that are currently used by private patients would be transferred
Speaking at a separate media briefing in Dublin, Fine Gael deputy leader and finance spokesman Richard Bruton accepted that 2,300 hospital beds was a lot, but said 2,000 beds had been provided in 1948 by Noel Browne when Ireland was "only one-tenth the wealthy country it is today".
He said Fine Gael had costed the provision of the beds at €850 million and rejected Fianna Fáil's claim that other projects would suffer if it was implemented.
"No other projects need suffer and none will suffer," he said.
There was a contingency fund in the National Development Plan which would allow the 2,300 beds to be funded, Mr Bruton said.
"This government says it can't be done. Well, step aside and let us do it, because we will do it."
Mr Bruton said that if people believed Ireland had a world-class health service as portrayed by the Taoiseach, then they were "free to vote for Fianna Fáil".
Minister for Health Mary Harney said, meanwhile, that the PDs are seeking a mandate for ambitious health reform as she outlined a series of guarantees to patients.
Minister for Health Mary Harney
The Minister, who confirmed her intention to continue in her current role if the PDs return to government, said there could be "no going back" from the major reform programme that the outgoing coalition has started.
"The journey of reform has begun....We believe there is no impossible barrier to Ireland achieving excellence in health. We are doing it on the economy; we can do it on health," Ms Harney said.
"The foundations for excellence have been laid. And the improvements are now coming in A&E, cleaner hospitals, shorter waiting times, cancer care, cardiac care, GP services, and a new children's hospital."
Among the guarantees outlined by the Progressive Democrats today are a maximum six-hour wait for admission at A&E, an appointment for elective hospital treatment within two months, and hospital discharges seven days a week.
The PD plan also includes the recruitment of 1,500 additional hospital consultants, quality cancer care for people in every region, and beds in publicly funded hospitals to be routinely available to all patients.