Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny insisted it was untrue for Micheál Martin to claim he was never given a briefing which allowed him appreciate the significance of the nursing home charges issue.
Mr Kenny said background papers had been circulated in advance to all the Ministers and advisers who attended the meeting on December 16th, 2003.
The Travers report had indicated that Minister of State Tim O'Malley had read them in advance of the meeting, and formed the view that, if the opinion and legal advice which the South Eastern Health Board had received was correct, then it would give rise to "significant legal, operational, financial and political implications".
Mr Kenny said whatever criticism might be made of Mr O'Malley, "at least he met his responsibility as a Minister by reading the briefing which he was given, and understanding the implications of the issue".
Mr Kenny said the same could not be said of Mr Martin.
Both Mr Kenny and Labour leader Pat Rabbitte said that in March 1987, then minister John Boland had prepared legislative proposals on the issue. However, his successor in the department, Dr Rory O'Hanlon, now Ceann Comhairle, did not proceed with the legislation.
Mr Rabbitte said a minister committing certain types of error had an obligation to resign.
"I do not believe that a minister can be expected to keep tabs on the location of every paper clip in his department, but I do expect him to ask questions and to inform himself on crucial matters.
"Not, mind you, that any such consideration stopped Fianna Fáil in opposition from baying for the political blood of Minister Nora Owen when an administrative error relating to the retirement of a judge came to light.
"The sanctimoniousness and the piety then stand in sharp contrast to the backsliding and the weasel words now. Frankly, the hypocrisy is nauseating."
Mr Rabbitte accused the Government of taking refuge in changing perceptions of the notion of accountability, and was arguing, in effect, that the buck no longer stopped with the Minister.
He claimed that by December 2003, and indeed long before that, Mr Martin either knew, or should have known, that he had a problem. "At no point, however, does he appear to have asked the question: did the AG ever come back to us on the nursing home charges problem?"
Mr Rabbitte said "no amount of huffing and puffing by the AHCS [Association of Higher Civil Servants] can conceal the catalogue of failures by civil servants in this matter".
