The Minister for Health, Mr Martin, yesterday denied his Department had leaked figures on the earnings of doctors from the medical card scheme in retaliation for the Irish Medical Organisation's public criticism of him at a press conference last week.
"There was no leaking of figures - these are actual annual figures that are produced every year," he said.
"Sometimes people give them attention and given the week that was in it, I suppose there was a particular focus on the figures," he added.
Mr Martin suggested that the figures were due for publication "either this week or last week" and said it was a matter for the GMS Payments Board, which compiles the information on who earns what.
However, the GMS Payments Board's annual report for 2003, published on Friday, contained cumulative figures and did not contain details of payments to individual doctors. Furthermore, a spokeswoman for the GMS Payments Board said it only supplied that information to the Department of Health and health boards. "We have never divulged any information on any practitioner despite requests from the media," she said.
But the Labour party's health spokeswoman, Ms Liz McManus, claimed the release of the data at the weekend was a "stunt" by the Minister. "I believe this is politically motivated. It's as a result of the Minister getting a hammering from the doctors last week and any increased costs in the GMS go back to the Minister making a pigs ear of the over 70s scheme. I think its the worst kind of politics," she said.
The figures revealed Ms McManus's husband Dr John McManus, a GP in Bray, earned €383,226 from the scheme in 2003. The money paid to him however, as in the case of other doctors, has to be distributed between himself and other doctors and nurses in his practice and is not an individual payment.
The entire list of payments to individual GPs from the highest to the lowest was provided to the The Irish Times by the Department of Health when it was requested yesterday. A spokeswoman said it was available in mid July every year after the GMS payments board published its annual report.
The highest earner was Dr Brendan McCarthy from Foxrock, Dublin, who was paid €563,927 and the second highest payment to a doctor under the scheme was to Dr Brian Meade of the Kilmacud Medical Centre in Stillorgan, Dublin, who received €450,036. In a statement he said the figure referred to gross earnings out of which four GPs, a practice nurse, a practice manager and two reception staff had to be paid. Retention tax was also deducted, he said.
Other payments set out include some €341,065 paid to the practice run by Dr Martin Daly, in Ballygar, Co Galway. He confronted the Minister at a press conference in Government buildings last week about his failure to extend medical card eligibility. The practice of IMO president Dr James Reilly, who was also involved in the public spat with Mr Martin, received €214,649.
Dr Jerry Cowley said his payment was used to pay several doctors to run his practice in Mayo while he was in the Dáil. He believes the timing of the release of the payments to GPs was "to take the heat off the Department over its failure to honour a promise to extend medical card eligibility".
He said the Minister now complained about the cost of the GMS scheme but he had "walked himself into it" by giving medical cards to everyone over 70, regardless of their means.
He said it wasn't right that doctors get paid four times more for treating over 70s as people who are means tested for medical cards. But the deal had been done by the Department and there was no point now "trying to close the stable door when the horse had bolted".
Mr Martin seemed to indicate the fees paid to GPs to administer the scheme would have to be renegotiated before eligibility for medical cards could be extended.
"I think he would have great difficulty getting a trade union to row back on something like that," Dr Cowley said.