Former minister for health Micheál Martin will defend his handling of the nursing home charges issue in the Dáil this morning in the face of Opposition demands for his resignation.
The calls for him to step down from his current post as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment came after the publication yesterday of the Travers report on how elderly people with medical cards were illegally charged for care in public nursing homes for nearly three decades by having deductions made from their pensions.
The report refers to failures by the Department of Health at the highest levels since the mid-1970s to take action despite legal concerns. There was "long-term systemic corporate failure" by the department, it found.
The State faces having to refund up to €2 billion to an estimated 300,000 people who were illegally charged.
Last night Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said the Government must launch an urgent investigation to make sure all other State charges are properly based in law: "Otherwise we could get into this again."
The secretary general of the Department of Health, Michael Kelly, stepped down yesterday and the Government announced he would move to the Higher Education Authority as its chairman.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said Mr Martin should step down. He accused the Taoiseach of not having the "political courage" to dismiss him. Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte said: "If it was any other jurisdiction in the western world, Mr Martin would have resigned by now."
Mr Ahern said the Travers report did not contain anything to show Mr Martin failed to carry out his duties as minister for health. Mr Martin's position would have been "untenable" if such a finding had been made, he said.
Questioned about why the problem took so long to be dealt with, Mr Ahern said: "We can say that that is amazing, we can say that that is extraordinary, we can say it shouldn't have happened, we can say that it should have been rectified along the way by all the ministers and all the secretaries general, but that doesn't get us anywhere."
Minister for Health Mary Harney, who commissioned the Travers report in December, said it raised grave issues for her department. However, she refused to adjudicate on the conflict in evidence given to it by Mr Kelly and Mr Martin.
Mr Kelly claimed he told Mr Martin of concerns about the illegal charges in December 2003 and again in March 2004 but Mr Martin claimed otherwise. Asked at the Dáil health committee if she had confidence in Mr Martin, Ms Harney said she would not stay in government with someone if she did not have confidence in them.
While Mr Travers found there was no evidence to indicate Mr Martin or other ministers over the years were "fully briefed" on the difficulties around nursing home charges, he said "there were undoubtedly . . . some lapses of judgment on the part of ministers over the years".
It appeared "both plausible and likely that some indications of the difficulties involved were conveyed to ministers over the years" and they and their special advisers "might have been expected to more actively probe and analyse the underlying issues involved", his report said.
However, the major failings lay at the door of the Department of Health and its officials, he said. "The failure of the Department of Health and Children to seek the advice of the Attorney General as decided on December 16th, 2003, until external events and ministerial intervention in October 2004 forced the issue, represents a significant failure of administration."
A file created for Mr Kelly which was to be sent to the Attorney General following the December meeting was never sent and has since "disappeared", the report found.
Mr Kelly believed he sent it to Mr Martin's office but could not recollect doing so. Mr Martin said he never saw it.