The Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, has supported the call for compulsory health screening of asylum-seekers made by the Fine Gael leader, Mr Michael Noonan. This is despite the objections of medical and asylum-seeker groups.
His declaration came as Fianna Fáil colleagues Mr Noel Dempsey and Mr Seamus Brennan sought to emphasise that the existing voluntary testing was sufficient.
At a press conference in Dublin yesterday, Mr McCreevy interrupted Mr Brennan to voice his support for Mr Noonan's position. "A good idea is always a good idea," he said.
Doctors in Ireland had considerable records about Irish patients because they were in frequent contact with them. "When people come from outside the jurisdiction they don't have their medical papers."
He added that other EU countries "with far more liberal attitude's than ours" require asylum-seekers to be medically vetted.
Meanwhile, the Fine Gael health spokesman, Mr Gay Mitchell, did not support his party leader's position.
He said Fine Gael would encourage asylum-seekers to avail of voluntary screening "for their own safety" but would not "drag people down to the doctor to take blood from them".
Mr Noonan, who had made the call for compulsory screening on the Pat Kenny Show on Thursday, e-mailed the programme yesterday to say health screening of asylum-seekers was "not about deportation" but "about treating illness".
"The purpose of health screening is to allow for appropriate treatment and care to be provided for those people who arrive in Ireland, often under difficult circumstances, after arduous journeys," he said.
Labour's spokeswoman on health, Ms Liz McManus, said her party was against compulsory screening of asylum-seekers but there was a need to screen people entering the country from high-risk areas.