The Minister for Health Mary Harney has suggested that minor injury clinics promised in the programme for government may now be provided by the private sector.
In the programme for government, a clear commitment was made to develop a "national network" of 20 local injury clinics within five years to take pressure off A&E units. There was no suggestion that any of these would be provided by the private sector.
Instead the document agreed by Fianna Fail, the Progressive Democrats and the Green Party stated that these clinics "will be located in places which maximise public accessibility".
The document further stated "in some cases these will be on hospital sites or within primary healthcare clinics".
Indicating that the clinics would be publicly funded, the document added: "While final details will require more detailed expert input, we estimate that each centre will require a start-up capital budget of up to €2 million and ongoing recurrent funding of up to €400,000.
However, following an inquiry from The Irish Times this week, a spokeswoman for Ms Harney said: "In relation to minor injury clinics, an analysis of the optimum location of local injury clinics will be undertaken and consideration will also be given to the role which might be played by the private sector in further developing the service."
The query followed comments made by Ms Harney last week as she opened a VHI Swiftcare clinic in Swords, Co Dublin. Saying she was looking forward to opening five other VHI clinics, she said: "I'm delighted to hear of the plans to grow these facilities in other places. I look forward to opening each of the five and having them up and running as quickly as possible because I think there's no doubt there's a huge vacuum in the market as far as minor injury facilities are concerned and the programme for government does contain a commitment to have these minor injury centres.
"If memory serves me right we are talking about 20. It's not quite defined how they are or who they are (sic) but I think we need to work on that together."
This apparent change of policy from the Minister for Health has been criticised by opposition parties and the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO).
IMO president Dr Paula Gilvarry said it would view such a development in the same way as it regarded the plan for co-located private hospitals. She said there was a "chipping away" at the public healthcare system and it raised questions regarding the Government's primary care strategy and the commitment to develop primary care teams.
Labour Party spokeswoman Jan O'Sullivan said Mary Harney was "treating the health service like a commodity to be bought and sold on the open market" and that her party fundamentally disagreed with this.
Fine Gael's health spokesman Dr James Reilly said such private clinics would not meet the "real need" as they were only for those who could afford high fees. He said the real problem was that A&E units were not receiving the support they had been promised.