Government figures showing a reduction in hospital waiting lists have been greeted with caution by Opposition parties and the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association.
The Minister for Health, Mr Martin, said the waiting list figure of 29,657 on September 30th represented a reduction of almost 20 per cent since January. It also represented a decrease of 2,194, about 7 per cent, from the end of the June quarter.
The Minister acknowledged that a number of hospitals had carried out validation procedures, which contributed to the overall reduction.
In the validation procedure, people are taken off the list for reasons other than being treated, including those who died, moved away from a hospital area, or opted for private treatment.
Mr Finbarr Fitzpatrick, secretary general of the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association, said his organisation would view the figures with caution.
"We would be anxious that the number of procedures performed would be detailed," he said.
The number of patients taken off the list by the validation process would have to be outlined.
The Fine Gael spokesman on health, Mr Gay Mitchell, said the Minister had massaged the statistics.
"The real situation is that GPs are reluctant to refer patients to hospitals because of the size of the list."
The Labour spokeswoman on health, Ms Liz McManus TD, said any reduction in waiting lists was welcome, but the core issue of how long people were on the waiting list had not been addressed.
Furthermore, people were not put on a waiting list unless they had been already waiting for three months, she said.
The chairman of the Irish Patients' Association, Mr Stephen McMahon, welcomed the reduction in waiting lists but said they were "waiting for a full analysis of the validation process".
He also drew attention to the "tens of thousands" of people waiting to get on the waiting list.
The Minister said significant decreases had occurred in the areas of gynaecology, cardiac surgery and orthopaedics. Targeting spending in these areas was to be welcomed, Mr McMahon said.