A claim by the Western Health Board that it is being forced to cut 200 jobs has sparked a major disagreement with the Minister for Health and Children.
It also led to an Opposition allegation that as many as 2,000 jobs could be lost to the health service this year instead of the 800 the Government announced in July.
But Mr Martin insists the cuts he is seeking from the Western Health Board can be met by it not filling 85 posts, and he has asked board officials to explain how they arrived at a figure of 200.
The disagreement came on same day Mr Martin withdrew a circular curbing payments to some parents of disabled children.
And the controversy over the status of Monaghan Hospital was rekindled when Mr Paudge Connolly TD alleged a local woman might still be alive had the hospital been open for ambulance calls.
The Western Health Board said yesterday it has to cut its staff by 200 to make a €1.15 million saving, ordered by the Department of Health and Children.
Some 200 staff working in the clerical, administration and management areas will not have their temporary contracts renewed when they expire. The members of the Western Health Board were informed of the move in a letter this week by the board's chief executive officer, Dr Sheelah Ryan.
She said the Department had originally sought a reduction of 85 in the number of sanctioned posts in the WHB but it had since sought savings which would cost 200 posts. However, the Department said later that the saving it sought amounted to 85 posts and that it wants the health board to explain where it got its figures from.
Fine Gael's health spokeswoman Ms Olivia Mitchell TD said the WHB figures meant that the job losses across the country would be 2,000 for the full year and not the 800 previously announced. The Labour Party spokeswoman on health, Ms Liz McManus TD, said it was clear the Government had lied to the Irish people in the run-up to the general election when ministers denied health cuts were being planned.
The trade union IMPACT said it learned of the move only yesterday and was seeking a meeting with board officials today.
In a separate controversy, the Minister moved yesterday to distance himself from a circular ordering a change in the timing of payments to some parents of disabled children. The change has the effect of reducing the amount the parents would receive.
A spokeswoman for Mr Martin said officials had not told him about the circular. He ordered the withdrawal of the document yesterday pending a "review".
Government sources said last night it would have been normal for the Minister to be informed in advance of such a politically sensitive move.
The circular, sent on July 26th, told the health boards that the monthly €179.80 payment to parents of disabled children would no longer be backdated to the time of diagnosis.
Instead, the Domiciliary Care Allowance was only to be paid from the date of application for the allowance.
Meanwhile, a woman from Monaghan who died before she could get to hospital in Dundalk might be alive if her local hospital was open for ambulance calls, according to her local TD.
"This is the type of tragedy I warned about when basic services were removed from Monaghan hospital," said newly elected TD Mr Paudge Connolly.
The hospital has been off-call to emergencies since the start of July because it is no longer recognised as a training hospital for anaesthetists. The move has been followed by protests from local people.
The only good news on the health front came with the suspension of industrial action by doctors at Waterford Regional Hospital and Midland General Hospital, Tullamore, to allow a resumption of talks at the Labour Relations Commission.
The suspension of the hospital doctors' dispute at Waterford and Tullamore to allow for talks next week was welcomed by the Minister and by the Irish Patients' Association.
Mr Stephen McMahon of the IPA said he hoped the lesson had been learned that patients should not be used as a pawn by any side in any dispute.