The Labour leader Pat Rabbitte today accused the Tánaiste Mary Harney of "hiding behind" the findings of the Travers report into illegal care charges.
Speaking during leaders questions in the Dáil this morning, Mr Rabbitte said there had been "no political accountability from Government" in relation to the charges issue.
"The Government can't tell us how much this cock up will cost the taxpayer. And as the House rises for the Easter recess the Government is clearly calculating that media interest will wane and that the taxpayer will pay up and nobody is responsible."
Mr Rabbitte said the Tánaiste had made her political reputation as a purveyor of high standards in politics but in spite of that "defends Minister Martin by seeking to claim he knew nothing about it."
Replying to Mr Rabbitte, Ms Harney said she did not set up the Travers inquiry to "shelter anything from anybody."
"The John Travers inquiry was set up by me on the 16th of December long before there was any decision from the Supreme Court," she said.
"I've said on a number of occasions there is a serious conflict of interest as evidenced in the report between former Minister Martin and the Secretary General of the Department of Health Michael Kelly.
"And I further said I'm not going to adjudicate in relation to a conflict of evidence. It would be wrong of me to do so."
Mr Rabbitte said there was collusion at "the top level" politically and administratively not to confront the nursing home charges issue.
"You tell us piously that you won't adjudicate. Now you don't want to adjudicate when it's staring you in the face that there was collusion in the department at the highest level and an avoidance and a failure to confront an issue they thought would stay buried," he said.
"The pushing aside of one civil servant for a bill that will cost the Irish taxpayer 2000 million euro and Minister Martin continues to sit beside you and you're prepared to live with that. It is simply unconscionable," he added.
The Travers report, published earlier this month, found the Department of Health was well aware of concerns around the legality of nursing home charges for almost three decades but did not act on them.
The illegal charging of elderly medical card holders for care in public nursing homes for nearly 30 years could cost the State up to €2 billion in refunds.